Penn State and Ohio State Tackle Hunger

Story posted November 20, 2019 in CommRadio, News by Josh Portney

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — This week is Ohio State week, as Penn State prepares for a monumental football game on Saturday and a huge hockey series this weekend. Off the field, however, there’s another Ohio State-Penn State competition that is currently under way, and this matchup is for a good cause.

Throughout this week, students and fans from either school can donate five dollars to an online campaign called Tackle Hunger. Every five-dollar donation counts as one point towards the school’s total. It also goes directly to charity. All Penn State donations go to various Penn State-sponsored food and supply pantries all across the Commonwealth.

This head-to-head competition between Penn State and Ohio State encourages school spirit and philanthropy. Colm Parrish, the President of Penn State’s Student Philanthropy Network, spoke to me about this fundraising drive.

“It’s a really unique opportunity for us to turn our friendly rivalry with Ohio State into something tangible that has a pretty wide-reaching benefit across all Penn State campuses,” Parrish said.  “The money we’re raising today goes to Lion’s Pantry and other food pantries and food insecurity programs here in University Park and across all Commonwealth campuses.”

As it stands now, Penn State’s total more than doubles Ohio State’s total. Penn State has more than $24,800 donations, while Ohio State has contributed just under $11,700 five-dollar donations.

Hopefully for Penn State fans, Penn State’s incredible school spirit could foreshadow this weekend’s results. Either way, the competition has raised nearly $200,000 dollars for charity, something that both schools should be very proud of.

 

 

Josh Portney is a freshman majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact him, email jxp776@psu.edu.