Student Donation Will Provide 10,000 Meals to Local Food Bank

It’s not easy to convince anyone, let alone busy medicine students, to answer one more survey. But this one was especially important.

And with an accreditation-related site visit by the College of Medicine’s Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) scheduled for February 2021, the Student Impact Committee (SIC) had work to do.

The SIC is composed of representatives from each medicine class who work to gather and provide student feedback for accreditation. (The process is student-driven and runs independently, with assistance from University faculty and staff.) The committee’s charge from the LCME was to develop and analyze a 15-question survey that addressed student areas of concern – and then to encourage the most possible students to participate in the survey.

But how?

“We were brainstorming ideas of what incentives to provide students for survey participation. When the idea came up to offer a $5 donation on behalf of each student who completed the survey to the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank, it was clear that this idea really resonated with all the members of the SIC,” said Evelyn Lee, a second-year College of Medicine student and vice president of the SIC. The College of Medicine agreed to fund the initiative.

With food insecurity on the rise due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the idea couldn’t have been timelier. It took off.

Not only did 508 students complete the survey, for an impressive 84% response rate; the SIC was also able to provide a donation of $2,540 to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. This generous donation will allow the foodbank to provide 10,000 meals to local families in need.

On Tuesday, Dec. 1, SIC President Neal Kapoor joined Lee in a virtual check presentation to Tasha Ledrich, the volunteer coordinator at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.

During the ceremony, Ledrich expressed her appreciation for the donation and for the volunteer work by many NEOMED students at the Foodbank last summer. NEOMED student volunteer contributions then totaled 77 volunteer hours, Ledrich said.

Lee added, “The SIC is grateful for the support of the College of Medicine so that our student body can provide thoughtful feedback to help our school while providing much-needed help to our community.”