By Sarah Elbeshbishi

Terps Against Hunger held its sixth annual Homecoming community service event on Oct. 27 and 28 at Ritchie Coliseum, where people packed meals for locals suffering from food insecurity.  

University of Maryland students, alumni, faculty and staff members as well as community members helped pack 200,000 meals during this two day event.

“Homecoming brings a lot of people together that aren’t normally kind of in the same setting… so it’s really nice to see all the different people in the local area that come together and just to package meals for a good cause,” said Maddie Mazenko, the co-president of Terps Against Hunger.

Volunteers worked together to make and package the meals. Some participants weighed ingredients while others combined them, sealed the packages or packed the meals away.  

The meals contained soy, rice, dried vegetables and vitamins, Mazenko said. 

“We package them into little bags, and each bag has about six meals in it that you can just then pour into water to boil to make,” the senior kinesiology major said.  

Though Terps Against Hunger is a student organization, many of the volunteers weren’t students, including Mary and Michael Czan. 

Mary Czan has been volunteering at the annual homecoming service event for the past five years with her husband Michael. 

“It’s a fun way to volunteer and help the homeless and help Maryland at the same time,” Mary, who works at the university’s health center, said. 

The Czans aren’t the only regulars at the service event. Lois and Joan Allen, sisters and UMD alumnae, have volunteered for the past six years. 

“I just enjoy it and think it’s a good cause,” Lois Allen said. 

In addition to the regulars, the event also brought out newcomers.

“This is my first time doing this, but I’m signed up for tomorrow as well, so I’m excited,” said Gabrielle Raffa, a sophomore criminology major. 

Though it was her first time, Raffa plans on coming back. 

“I love things like this that are doing a hands on approach in order to solve a problem that’s clearly present, so I really enjoy this organization,” Raffa said. 

After the volunteers package the 200,000 meals they will be distributed to local food banks, which will distribute them to those in need.  

“We’re just trying to get as many kids and family members the access to the food that they need,” Mazenko said.