Campus News

WUKY Partners With God’s Pantry and Local Businesses to Combat Child Hunger

Two children eating lunch

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 6, 2019) WUKY is teaming up with God’s Pantry Food Bank to fight hunger and provide take-home backpacks for food insecure children in Fayette County this holiday season.

WUKY, the University of Kentucky's acclaimed NPR station, in partnership with Stewart Perry of State Farm Insurance, Anita Britton of Britton-Johnson Law, Mr. Sparkle Car Wash and UK Federal Credit Union, will fill a backpack for a child in need through God’s Pantry Food Bank’s Backpack Program with every donation made to WUKY until Dec. 31. These generous sponsors will fill up to 2,000 backpacks for at-risk children with the support of WUKY listeners.

According to Feeding America’s Mapping the Meal Gap, 10,490 food insecure children live in Lexington alone.

God’s Pantry Food Bank distributes up to 860 bags of food weekly. Each bag contains seven to 10 kid-friendly items of food such as a protein-rich main dish (macaroni and cheese or chicken and rice), shelf-stable milk, fruit cups, granola bars and other items chosen by a registered dietitian.

WUKY, is a community-supported service of the University of Kentucky, provides high-quality news, cultural and entertainment content through the use of existing and emerging media to create a more informed and engaged community.

For more information visit www.wuky.org or contact Robert T. Hansel at 859-257-3272 or robert.hansel@uky.edu.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.