UT students raise money for Second Harvest amid federal funding cuts
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Four students at University of Tennessee are raising money for Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee. It started off as a project for English Class but it grew into a passion to help others.
Luke McCrossin, Maeve Miller, Cecilia Fermann and Jackson Martin hope to raise $1,500 for Second Harvest's Food for Kids program. This money will help provide children with weekend meals.
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'We saw that they had a program going on underneath it which raises money to provide food bag for kids in need in the local area, so we decided to help with that,' Luke McCrossin said.
Maeve Miller added, 'Currently raising money for Second Harvest specifically for their Food for Kids Program, which focuses on helping kids who might not have parent help at home, so that they have access to food when they're not at school.'
Food for Kids serves over 15,000 students across 18 counties in East Tennessee.
'We raised right now about $1,100, which is feeding 11 kids for a year straight, which is very nice. We like doing it,' McCrossin said. 'It's good to help out the community.'
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The fundraiser comes at a time of uncertainty for the food bank. Last week, we visited Second Harvest and saw empty shelves due to federal funding cuts. Second Harvest told 6 News they are receiving 43% less food than before, with the USDA going back to pre-pandemic levels.
'Their Food for Kids program is the most expensive program at Second Harvest because its so important for so many kids,' Miller said. 'With everything going on with inflation and everything, it's a lot harder to collect food and and the money gets kind of cut in half.'
6 News reporter Naomi Hillmer spoke with Director Elaine Streno about the cuts on April 17.
'The demand for food has risen about 20% in the last couple years,' Streno said. 'The cost of food, all of the entities that are going into when we go to the grocery store our clients are feeling it.'
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The food bank went say 21 truckloads of USDA food were canceled due to federal funding cuts late last month.
'They seem very grateful for it obviously and we are happy to help out with that,' McCrossin said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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