An upcoming University of Georgia Libraries event aims to nourish minds and help fill a local food pantry.
UGA’s Russell Library for Political Research and Studies has partnered with Campus Kitchen to host the annual Food, Power, and Politics Lecture, featuring a discussion on the increasing global need for food banks with expert and author Daniel Warshawsky.
The event is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10 at the UGA Special Collections Libraries. Attendees are encouraged to bring donations for Campus Kitchen’s annual "Turkey Palooza" Thanksgiving Food Drive, which aims to help provide Thanksgiving meals for families experiencing food insecurity in the Athens community.
“As governments tackle issues like poverty, supply chains, and climate change, food banks have become an important tool in local communities and across the globe. This lecture is the perfect reminder of the growing demand and a great opportunity for all of us to learn how to help those in need,” said Sheryl Vogt, director of the Russell Library.
The event goal is to collect 60 15-oz cans of pumpkin puree, going toward the Turkeypalooza goal of providing more than 300 families with ingredients for home-cooked Thanksgiving meals through the Athens Community Council on Aging.
Warshawsky, the author of Food Waste, Food Insecurity, and the Globalization of Food Banks, is a professor in the School of Social Sciences and International Studies at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. His research examines food waste, food insecurity, and food banks in the world’s regions, with a primary focus on cities in North America, Europe, and Africa.
Leah Carmichael, UGA’s director of active learning and a senior lecturer in the School of Public and International Affairs, will moderate the event.