By Jesse BadeStaff Writer

The Hofstra Hunger Project Organization has been recycling bottles for months in order to raise money for the World Food Program in a project called Recycle to Feed.

Hofstra Hunger Project President Elisa dos Santos, a junior, started the program as a way to earn continuous funds for starving children.

“The money we earn from bottles we are going to send to the World Food Program because we are a chapter of Universities Fighting World Hunger,” said Santos. “Everything that we do, all the money that we raise, we just send it to them.”

According to Santos, every 25 cents earned feeds one child, and it only takes five bottles to help a starving child.

The organization’s cause attracted many at Hofstra, including sophomore Shaena Hargreaves.

“My friend Elisa told me about the club last semester and it sounded like something I really wanted to be a part of,” said Hargreaves. “Feeding kids and all…it’s a big deal…especially to me. Food is important.”

And Hargreaves did not stop with individual involvement in the project; she expanded her involvement to include her entire rugby team.

The president of the Hofstra Women’s Rugby team, Katie Cassidy, a junior, became passionate about the Recycle to Feed project after Hargreaves told her about it.

“The idea of helping the environment and children at the same time seems great and so beneficial,” said Cassidy. “The rugby team is working hard to collect bottles and aid their teammate Shaena, as well as the community at large, through this project.”

The project serves the community in more ways than most people know, according to Pedro Gimenez, vice president of the organization. Gimenez claimed that the organization to which the money is sent has a specific process of food distribution. The World Food Organization plans that the children go to school to get the food, getting food and an education.

Currently, individual members collect bottles while boxes are set up in the Netherlands for recycled plastics, but the Hofstra Hunger Project wishes to expand to include all the residents’ halls.