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MBA’s from The University of Michigan Join in National "Food Fight" as Top Business Schools Take the Lead in Fighting Hunger.

Students from the business school at The University of Michigan will be participating in a friendly competition to collect the most food for the national food bank network, Second Harvest. Locally, Second Harvest network member Food Gatherers will be the beneficiary of the students’ efforts. The nation-wide competition includes seventeen of the top 25 business schools in the country, and runs from November 9-20. The event is being coordinated by the University of Michigan Business School and is sponsored by Kraft Foods, Inc., Unilever, The Pillsbury Co., and S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. 

During the two weeks of competition students will bring in food items to their respective schools, who will weigh the food and hand it over to Second Harvest. As incentive, some professors are offering one-day immunity from difficult questions in class in exchange for donated food. Other schools are hosting benefit events such as concerts, with the proceeds going to the food drive. The school that collects the most amount of food will be given a monetary award to be donated to a charity of its’ choice, as well as the much coveted "Funky Pilgrim" Trophy. Winners will be announced on December 11, 1998. 

1997 marked the inaugural year for the annual MBA Food Fight. The response from students was tremendous, as over 70,000 pounds of food was collected from eighteen different schools. Honors were given in two categories: Yale School of Management was distinguished as contributing the most amount of food per student (21.5 lbs./student), while Wharton School of Business (University of Pennsylvania) contributed a total of 27,110 lbs.

The competition highlights an emphasis at many of the top business schools to create a better society through social responsibility. 

For further information on this story, please contact Dorota Jozefiak or Vibha Monteiro of The University of Michigan Business School at djozefia@umich.edu or vmonteir@umich.edu.