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ISU Students Challenged to Make a Difference
Feed the Children Balloon Launch
Balloons sold to raise money
were launched on campus
Students in Jodi Hallsten’s Small Group Processes class are learning that working in small groups can make a huge difference beyond the classroom. As part of the course, students are required to organize and implement a fundraising project for organizations such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, and the United Way. The students’ projects will aid many important causes including tsunami relief. “While I’m very excited about all the creative fundraising events the studentsare currently planning, I’m most excited about the Feed The Children project,” said Hallsten. “Feed The Children officials said that if we were successful in our fundraising efforts they would send a semi-trailer truck filled with canned goods and basic necessities to our community to distribute to the food shelves in town. We would love to help families right here in the Bloomington/Normal area.” In fact, the students' campaign was a success and Feed The Children kept its promise by delivering a truck-load of goods on Saturday to the Salvation Army in Bloomington.

Feed the Children Students
Hallsten and students by the Feed The Children semi-truck on the quad

Feed The Children is a Christian, international, nonprofit relief organization that delivers food, medicine, clothing and other necessities to individuals, children, and families who lack these essentials due to famine, war, poverty, or natural disaster. When students contacted Feed The Children about their fundraising project, the organization enthusiastically responded with an even greater challenge: to raise more than a middle school in the Bronx that was doing a similar assignment.

In order to raise funds, the students arranged for a Feed The Children semi-truck to be parked on the quad for three days: March 2, 3, and 4. Students sold helium balloons for $2, $3, or $5 depending on the color of the balloon. At on the 4th the balloons were released. Money is still being counted, but as of Sunday night, ISU students had raised $3,200, surpassing the middle school in the Bronx. 

Students in front of the delivered goods
Students unloaded 400 boxes of food, 400 boxes of personal care items, and two pallets of shelf-stable milk on Saturday morning.

Feed The Children also sent camera crews to ISU to film the event as well as the planning before the event. The footage will be used for a reality television show that will be broadcasted on over 70 television stations across the US; in our area it will air on WGN Channel 9 out of Chicago. 

"We are so grateful to everyone in Jodi Hallsten's Communications Class, and to everyone at Illinois State University involved with this project," said Larry Jones, president and founder of Feed The Children. "All of the people involved with this project have made a decision to take a stand against hunger right in their own community. This is truly an example of compassion in action."
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