Last week, the UNCW community rallied together for the 10th Seahawks Give. On April 4 and April 5, 1,692 donors, including alumni, students, parents, friends and employees, showed their support during the annual tradition, raising an initial total of $261,533.
UNCW employees entered the giving challenge with a goal of 200 donors. Seahawks flew past that mark with 256 employees making gifts during the event. With the goal surpassed, $2,500 in challenge funding was unlocked for Hawk’s Harvest, the Student Food Pantry Support Fund.
Jaime Russell (left), director of student community engagement.
“It is no surprise to me that our Seahawk family demonstrated such generosity during Seahawks Give,” Director of Student Community Engagement Jaime Russell ’16 EdD said. “We are a community that cares for each other. Thanks to our donors we are able to continue to care for students who are experiencing food insecurity.”
Located in the Fisher University Union, this critical resource for students originally opened in the spring of 2019 after the university saw an increasing need for student access to free food after Hurricane Florence. In the past few years, the need has only increased.
As one student shared, “I greatly appreciate this service. As an independent student, the food pantry has quite literally prevented me from going hungry.”
From August-December 2022, the pantry distributed more than 6,400 pounds of food, more usage than all previous academic years.
At Hawk’s Harvest, the student shopper gets to select their food items from the shelves with staff available to answer questions related to food items, recipes, campus resources and more.
“We want each and every student to be successful, and Hawk’s Harvest aims to remove barriers to that success” Russell added. “Today I am a proud Seahawk employee, alumna and donor.”
Food donations can be dropped off in the Campus Life Office, room 2041 of the Fisher University Union, by emailing hawksharvest@uncw.edu to arrange a drop-off time. A financial gift can be submitted online or employees may set up payroll deduction to support Hawk's Harvest. All donations go towards purchasing food items and supporting the pantry.