Members of the KU School of Medicine-Wichita Emergency Medicine Interest Group know times are tough for many in the community. Food insecurities are proven to have a negative impact on health outcomes. With the effects of the pandemic, current state of the economy and it being the holiday season, the student group wanted to help ensure their community has access to quality food sources. They did just that by organizing a food drive.

“As future physicians, we recognize that our impact on health care extends beyond the walls of a clinic or hospital,” said Shelby Durler, second-year medical student. “We love being active in the community and we want to be as helpful as possible while we are still students. Nutrition can have a tremendous impact on health and we wanted to help reduce some of those concerns for our community.”

EMIG planned and organized the drive, “Nourish Our Neighbors,” at one of the local Dillons stores on Dec. 3 and 4. In addition, other KU School of Medicine-Wichita medical students, along with pre-med students from Wichita State University and Friends University, participated in the food drive. Local community members who came to the store collected extra items as they shopped and donated them as they left.

The effort allowed more than 1,600 pounds of food to be donated to HumanKind, Union Rescue Mission, CHD, Family Crisis Center and Table of Hope. Cash donations were used to purchase hundreds of hygiene and household items for local crisis centers.

“We are so grateful for the community support,” Durler said. “We had high hopes for the success of this event and those expectations were far surpassed thanks to all the donations.”