Student Video Causes Surge of Voting for Full Circle Food Pantry

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Julia Lyon, chair of the Full Circle Food Pantry, talks with a student film crew to describe the mission of the food pantry.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A new YouTube video by students at the University of Arkansas led enormous response that has pushed the university’s entry — the Full Circle Campus Food Pantry — into a close contest for the No. 1 position in voting for the national Campus Champions of Change Challenge.

Voting continues until 10:59 p.m. (Central Standard) Saturday, March 3, at the Campus Challenge website. Anyone may vote and may cast up to three votes for the Full Circle Food Pantry.

“We’re overwhelmed by the response from students and the many supporters of the university, but not surprised,” said Danny Pugh, vice provost for student affairs and dean of students. “The students on campus jumped into this competition last Friday, spreading the word through their own networks of friends and keeping us within a stone’s throw of the leader. The additional support from alumni has put us in the lead, but we still have two days to go. We hope everyone will tell their friends to vote before the Saturday deadline.”

The pantry was opened in February 2011by students involved with the university’s Volunteer Action Center. They wanted to provide a dignified and discreet way for any member of the University of Arkansas community who needed food to get it. In the past year, more than 2,500 people have been provided food.

For its efforts to help people, the Full Circle Campus Food Pantry was nominated for the Campus Challenge and is one of 15 finalists. Online voting will determine the top five programs, which will each be invited to the White House.

The new YouTube video was put together by UA Productions, a student-led video and design group in the Division of Student Affairs. It features Julia Lyon, student chair of the food pantry, and B.J. Galloway, a student volunteer in the food pantry.

“We wanted to do something to put a human face on the campaign, show that we support our fellow students who have done so much to support our campus community,” said Clint Fullen, a graduate assistant studying journalism and manager of UA Productions. “We pulled an all-nighter, but we’re happy that we could support them in some small way.”

At about 9 a.m. Thursday, the University of Arkansas was in third place. Within a couple of hours after the video was posted, the Full Circle Campus Food Pantry had jumped into second place and was still climbing. By 3 p.m., university supporters had put Full Circle in the lead, crossing the 30,000-vote mark before any other college.

The Campus Champions of Change Challenge, which is sponsored by the White House, had more than 1,400 projects entered from across the United States., The field of projects was narrowed to 15 finalists last week, and the five top projects will be invited to the White House on March 15 and will also be involved in video projects for mtvU and MTV Act, two online channels of MTV, one of the sponsors of the challenge.