Midshipmen Collect 60,504 Pounds of Food for Anne Arundel County

The Midshipman Action Group along with the Naval Academy Chaplains Office collected 60,504 pounds of food for the Anne Arundel County Food and Resource Bank during the 2014 Harvest for the Hungry Food and Funds Drive.

Harvest for the Hungry is an annual food drive sponsored by the Anne Arundel County Food and Resource Bank to help low income families with meals and other basic needs year round.

The Food and Resource Bank not only collects food but other resources like clothes, furniture and other household items to help those in need.

“One in eight families in Maryland and one in three children in Anne Arundel County are food insecure,” said Midshipman 1st Class Gabrielle Dimaapi, Harvest for the Hungry project leader.

USNA and the Midshipman Action Group partnered with Anne Arundel Public Schools for the Harvest for the Hungry: Kids Helping Kids campaign to raise money, food, supplies and awareness for those in need in Maryland. In 2013 midshipmen contributed more two thirds of the total amount of food donated to the food bank. 

MAG collected food during sporting events, held drive competitions throughout the Brigade of Midshipman, and turned the food drive into a friendly competition between companies within the brigade.

“The food drive is important to the county and Maryland. We wanted to make sure the midshipmen wanted to give so we turned it into a friendly rivalry between companies,” said Midshipmen 3rd Class Megan Rosenberger, assist Harvest for the Hungry project leader. “The midshipmen collected food all month long and throughout that month we weighed the food in King Hall at the Anchor.”

The 4th Company "Four Horsemen" won the competition with a total of 2,767 pounds of food.

A food bank truck made repeated trips to the academy to gather the food during the month of October, after learning from last year that one truck was not enough for the midshipmen.

“It is good for the midshipmen to see what they have done to help the community,” said Dimaapi. “A lot of hard work and volunteering went into making this happen and it could not have been done without the help of the brigade. They are the ones to who need to he highlighted.”

With the help of the midshipmen, the food bank distributed more than $1.6 million in food to the needy during fiscal 2013.

See more photos at the USNA Flickr site.