Nearly 30 Gannon students are embracing the University’s call to community service through a sweeping project aimed at improving the health and well being of lower-income local residents.
A primary focus of the project will be changing the long-term eating habits of individuals living at or below the poverty line, a disproportionate number of whom struggle with obesity and related issues.
Students in the University’s Exercise Science Club, and from courses in Advanced Sports Nutrition and Nutrition in Disease, are among those participating. The students will be tasked with developing healthy recipes and helping distribute them to the target audience.
The project is a true community effort, as Gannon’s Erie-GAINS initiative is joining with St. Martin Center, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania, the Bayfront Eastside Task Force and local food pantries. As an early step in the process, a group of Gannon students and Suzanne Kitts, M.Ed., ATC, instructor, Gannon University sport and exercise science program, recently visited the pantry at St. Patrick Church, 130 East 4th St. Kitts and the students observed the pantry on its weekly collection day.
Mike Litzinger, one of the co-directors of St. Pat’s, is excited about Gannon’s involvement. “Gannon has been a great neighbor to us in a number of ways,” he said. Every week, St. Pat’s distributes boxes of food to as many as 250 families, or about 1,300 individuals.
A grant of nearly $5,000 from Metz & Associates, Gannon’s foodservice provider, is making the project possible. Specifically, the grant funds will be used to:
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