Full Circle Campus Food Pantry Headed to White House

FAYETTVILLE, Ark. – The Full Circle Campus Food Pantry at the University of Arkansas appears to be one of five student service programs that will be invited to the White House according to the Campus Champions of Change Challenge voting website. The selection and vote comes after a nationwide competition in which more than 1,400 programs were nominated for the Challenge.

“Thank you for everyone’s support this past week,” said Sylvia Tran, an intern who led the social media campaign for the university’s Volunteer Action Center, which oversees the food pantry. “This has been the most exciting week for the students at Full Circle and for the Volunteer Action Center.”

Supporters of the student volunteers who staff the Full Circle Campus Food Pantry cast 57,142 online votes for the food pantry over the course of eight days, finishing a close second to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, which had 59,852, according to the website.

Programs at Grinnell, University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Chicago rounded out the top five.

The Full Circle Food Pantry began operations just a year ago to provide a dignified, discreet way to receive food for members of the University of Arkansas community who face difficulty with hunger-related issues. Donations by student organizations and private companies have provided food for more than 2,500 people during the past year.

“We on campus know the great work that the students at Full Circle have been doing,” Chancellor G. David Gearhart said, “but this competition brings national attention to the issue of hunger in America. We couldn’t be prouder of the University of Arkansas community for supporting the food pantry, both with their gifts of food and their votes this past week. It is so encouraging to see the support that our community members have for each other.”

The university very quickly moved into fourth place early Friday, Feb. 25 on the first day of the competition. On Monday, following a story in USA Today that featured the Full Circle Campus Food Pantry, the university made its way to No. 3. Arkansas students posted notes to their Facebook pages, tweeted links to the online ballot, and created turn-out-the-vote YouTube videos during the week to keep Arkansas near the lead until Thursday.

Inspired by the students, faculty, staff and alumni helped as well, reminding friends to vote for Full Circle in the competition. Many of the nonprofit and community service organizations that support the mission of Full Circle also encouraged their members to vote for the food pantry as well. Although most of the voting came from within the United States, votes came from as far as Japan and Saudi Arabia.

A big push by the students, led in part by the release of a video created by the student-run UA Productions in the Division of Student Affairs, helped turn out an enormous response, putting the Full Circle Campus Food Pantry in the lead temporarily. On Friday, however, a similar campaign effort by UMass-Amherst swung that school back into a close lead that it was able to sustain until the end of voting Saturday night.

More than a quarter of a million online votes were cast in the competition.

“All Across America, college and university students are helping our country out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world,” said President Barack Obama in announcing the competition. “I hope this challenge shines a light on their efforts, and inspires Americans of all ages to get involved in their communities.”

The five top teams will visit the White House on March 15.