Clemson, Auburn tackle hunger with World Food Programme

Two arch-rivals face off on the gridiron this weekend in one of the year’s most hotly anticipated college football games, but Clemson University and Auburn University are united off the field in their support for the World Food Programme's mission to defeat one of the world’s greatest problems—the scourge of hunger.

"I am enormously proud that Clemson is exploring ways to join Auburn and WFP in our joint fight against hunger," said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. "Defeating hunger is an enormous challenge, but if we tackle it together, we know this is a fight we can win."

Beasley, a former governor of South Carolina who studied at Clemson, is attending the Clemson-Auburn game this weekend with U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, who represents Alabama’s 4th Congressional District and, as chair of the House appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, is himself deeply involved in the fight against hunger both domestically and around the world. The two men have children attending Clemson and Auburn, respectively.

"We may be rooting for different teams on the gridiron Saturday, but off the field it’s vital that we come together to take on the challenge of reaching zero hunger, so this strong engagement by the leaders of Clemson and Auburn is vital," Beasley said. "This is one goal we all have to share."

Clemson University President James P. Clements and Auburn University President Steven Leath are both part of the Presidents United to Solve Hunger, or PUSH, consortium and signatories of the Presidents’ Commitment to Food and Nutrition Security in which university leaders pledge to make food and nutrition security a priority on campus in teaching, research, outreach and student engagement. So far, 97 university presidents and chancellors on four continents have signed onto the PUSH Commitment, helping prepare the next generation to meet the grand challenge of ensuring that the world reaches the ambitious goal of ending hunger everywhere by the year 2030.

The PUSH Commitment is backed by Universities Fighting World Hunger, a global network of nearly 300 institutions of higher learning, which is based at Auburn University’s Hunger Solutions Institute. The Universities Fighting World Hunger movement focuses on educating, mobilizing and organizing students, faculty and administrators in the war against hunger. The innovative multidisciplinary model was launched by Auburn University in 2006 in a unique alliance with WFP.

WFP is a United Nations agency working to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in some 80 countries around the world.