For the fourth year in a row, Enactus Okanagan College has been crowned the country’s 2013 Help Hunger Disappear champion at the Enactus National Exposition. They were also named one of the top four overall National teams.
“Okanagan College is pretty small so being able to represent us and have that much success against the 50 biggest universities in Canada is pretty amazing,” said Thomas Arrowsmith, team member and student at Salmon Arm’s Okanagan College campus.
The Okanagan College team is the only Enactus team in Canada to have won the Help Hunger Disappear challenge, which was created four years ago with support from Campbell Company of Canada. The team won the inaugural challenge in 2010 and has continued to dominate the hunger relief initiative for four consecutive years.
The team was presented with their award on May 6 at the National Enactus Exposition in Toronto.
“The Enactus Okanagan College team stood out again this year for their continued teamwork and commitment to lasting hunger solutions in their community,” said Mark Childs, vice president of Marketing, Campbell Company of Canada. “Their boundless energy, passion and creativity continue to impress—they are truly role models for us all.”
The team from Okanagan College was recognized for their work to raise more than 54,000 pounds of food for food banks throughout the region. Creating and delivering 11 hunger relief initiatives, the Enactus Okanagan College students implemented projects in Salmon Arm, Vernon, Kelowna, and Penticton.
Their projects ranged from the Farm Bag Fundraiser, in which the students work with local farmers to distribute local produce, making farming more viable and sustainable through a franchise type model, to MOMentum, which empowers single mothers with information about how to cook healthy and affordable meals and connects them with financial skills to better manage their lives.
Terry Kosowick of Salmon Arm’s campus was also one of the finalists for the John Dobson Fellow Award for the work he has done as faculty advisor to Enactus Okanagan College.
“He’s been a huge supporter of our team and we wouldn’t have gotten where we are without him, especially in Salmon Arm,” Arrowsmith said.
“Everyone at Okanagan College is extremely proud of the work our students are doing to transform their communities,” said college president Jim Hamilton.
“It is certainly an honour to win this award for the fourth year in a row but more important than the award is the collaboration and support our students receive from the many organizations, schools and non-profits they work with to develop their hunger relief projects. Partnership of this kind are incredibly important to their education and to creating sustainable long-term change in our communities.”
