Below is a press release issued by the National Soybean Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
April 12, 2013
URBANA, Illinois 50 million Americans don’t have enough food according to the USDA. Almost 2 million of the food insecure Americans live in Illinois and over 77,000 people who don’t have enough to eat live in East Central Illinois.
On April 20, 2013, the University of Illinois and community volunteers will be joining forces to pack 146,000 meals of Italian Stovetop Casserole, a recipe developed at the National Soybean Research Laboratory (NSRL).
The Italian Stovetop Casserole includes donated ingredients as well as $5,000 worth of Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), donated by Archer Daniels Midland Company, Decatur, Illinois. TVP is an easy-to-use dry soy food made from defatted soy flour that has been texturized through an extrusion process and formed into granules. Other ingredients in the casserole are macaroni, dried vegetables and spices. By adding water and cooking the casserole, a delicious and nutritious meal packed with protein can be prepared in under thirty minutes.
At the meal-packing event, organized by the student group Illini Fighting Hunger, more than 1,000 volunteers will package 1,000 meals for each year that the university has been chartered. To sign up or learn more, visit http://cuvolunteer.org/DayOfService2013
Graduate student Gregory Damhorst, who founded Illini Fighting Hunger is coordinating the event. It will take place at the Student Dining and Residential Programs Building in Ikenberry Commons on the campus of the University of Illinois. Damhorst said his group has kept costs low by buying food-packing equipment, so it doesn’t have to rent machinery or pay expenses to outside organizations every time it sponsors a meal-packing event. He estimates it costs his group about 13 cents a meal to pack food. Illini Fighting Hunger approached leadership at the National Soybean Research Laboratory to develop the recipe for the April 20 event, and Damhorst hopes to continue using it for future projects.
“There’s plenty of this expertise on campus here at Illinois. Why not come up with our own recipe and have something that’s unique to Illinois that’s actually tailored for folks in Central Illinois?” said Damhorst, who is pursuing a medical degree and a doctorate in bioengineering through the UI’s Medical Scholars program.
“We are elated to be involved in such a worthwhile activity.” said Bridget Owen, NSRL Associate Director. “We work on soy protein solutions related to malnutrition around the world and it is exciting to be involved in a project that benefits people in our own backyard.”
The meals will be distributed in Champaign-Urbana through the Eastern Illinois Foodbank. The Eastern Illinois Foodbank exists to alleviate hunger in eastern Illinois by providing a reliable source of food for the hungry through cooperation with a network of more than 220 food programs and food pantries and agencies in 14 Eastern Illinois counties.
NSRL engages in research, outreach and education supporting soy nutrition, production and international development. In short, NSRL is very knowledgeable about soy and wants to share its knowledge. NSRL provides nutritional support in areas around the world that face extreme challenges of malnutrition. NSRL leads the way in developing innovative processing techniques involving soy. NSRL educates on the advantages of a soy enriched diet along with promoting the health benefits of eating soy. NSRL works with industry leaders, humanitarian organizations and soy associations and collaborators to increase the use of soy around the world. More information is available at: nsrl.illinois.edu
Our community is incredible at responding to the Wesley Evening Food Pantry’s need for at least one ton (2,000 lbs) of long-grain white rice every month. However, without proper storage containers, we can’t properly handle this influx of generosity. Poly box trucks like these hold up to 600 lbs of volunteer-packaged rice at a time in an efficient and (importantly) mobile unit that is easy for our volunteers to move in and out of storage. We’ve tried other methods – containers without wheels are too heavy, and smaller containers don’t stack well and collapse under the weight of the rice.
Today the Chancellor announced that on Saturday, April 20th, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will kick off National Volunteer Week with our inaugural Community-Campus Day of Service.