A 30-day challenge to help you learn about and solve hunger. Hunger is an issue prevalent in nearly every community in the world and we want to empower you to make a difference. This is part of a larger two-year long commitment that Ballard Center has made to focus on food insecurity. We are partnering on global hunger with World Food Program USA and community initiatives with Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III.

Anyone! If you complete the challenge and would like a tote, you must be able to pick it up from the Ballard Center on campus in Provo, UT. 

Pick up the End Hunger Challenge handout from the Ballard Center in TNRB 360 or download it and start on the first action item! After completing the handout, email to ballardcenter@byu.edu to report your good work!

“By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.” Everyone can do something to make a difference. At the Ballard Center, we say “love the problem, not the solution.” This means that we spend a lot of time learning deeply about the problems we hope to solve, rather than jumping in right away on a solution. The End Hunger Challenge provides ways for you to “love the problem” by learning deeply about hunger in our own communities, and then to do something about it. 

The Ballard Center for Social Impact empowers people with the faith and skills to create meaningful change, enhancing human flourishing and reducing suffering. We work primarily with BYU students through classes, internships, and partnerships to provide meaningful opportunities to practice social impact. For a broader audience, we make our resources available to all persons interested in learning how to “Do Good. Better.” 

Do Good. Better. is an invitation for all of us to work together to alleviate human suffering and promote human flourishing. The Do Good. Better. methodology is rooted in what we call the Social Impact Cycle, a cyclical practice for solving social problems. Learn more by watching our mini course on Do Good. Better. here!  

Food insecurity “refers to the lack of regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development, which includes an active and healthy life. There are different levels of food insecurity: mild food insecurity—the uncertainty regarding the ability to obtain food; moderate food insecurity—compromising food quality and variety or reducing quantity (including skipping meals); and severe food insecurity—going without food for a day or more.” (Ostvig, Ellie “Undernutrition Among Children in Guatemala” Ballard Brief. March 2023. ballardbrief.byu.edu)  

In Utah County, 9% of households experience food insecurity. In Provo, the food-insecure population is made up of college students, low-income families, and seniors. 

Yes! If you are a BYU student, visit this website: BYU Food and Housing Insecurity. If you are not a BYU student, but live in Provo, visit Community Action Provo to learn about getting help. If none of those apply to you, an online search of “food pantry near me” is a great place to start and get in contact with organizations that can help you with receiving food assistance.

The name of the video is “A Brief but Spectacular take on nourishing the mind, body, and soul” published by PBS News Hour. Here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc8WKjV92CE  

n Provo, you could volunteer at Community Action Services and Food Bank or Iglesia Emanuel Pantry. You can find each of these organizations online and learn how to volunteer with them. Utah Food Bank is a great website to look at food pantries all over Utah and find one that is close to you. JustServe is another easy-to-use resource to find local opportunities to volunteer. 

JustServe is a free platform to find volunteer opportunities in your area. Go to justserve.org, enter your town or city, and search for projects with keywords like “food” “hunger” “meal” and “food pantry.” 

Sure! Share the challenge and some things you learned with a few of your friends or family members about ending hunger. Encourage them to complete the challenge too! (If you’re on LinkedIn, that counts as social media too!) 

Email your completed sheet to ballardcenter@byu.edu. Starting October 16th, come to the Ballard Center Office located on BYU Campus, Tanner Building, room 360. Stop by anytime, 9am-5pm, Monday through Friday.