The main goals are to raise awareness of hunger and homelessness on our campus and in our community, educate individuals on resources available assist those in need, and encourage people to get involved to help overcome these social issues. Some events include:

The National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week is in collaboration with Volunteer UCF (VUCF), Graduate Student Association (GSA), Knights Helping Knights Pantry and various campus partners.

The events are worth up to 1,000 LINK Loot points and qualify as LEAD Impact events. More details at: or the . For additional information contact: Angela Newland, Student Care Services, angela.newland@ucf.edu.

Volunteer UCF, in collaboration with the Graduate Student Association and various campus partners, is hosting National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week at UCF, November 16-22.

The event will include a week-long donation drive, interactive educational events, powerful speakers, community resources and service projects.

Donated items will benefit the Knights Helping Knights Pantry and the White Linen Project. For lists of the most needed items and locations, visit Facebook pages: and .

The event is to raise awareness of hunger and homeless on the UCF campus and in the Central Florida community, educate individuals on resources available to assist those in need, and encourage people to get involved to help overcome these social issues.

The National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week events are worth up to 1,000 LINK Loot points and qualify as LEAD Impact events. For more information, contact Todd at Todd.Currie@ucf.edu.

 Each LINK event is worth a certain amount of points called LINK Loot. When students attend these events, they earn Loot that can be used to bid on prizes throughout the year. While only FTICs are able to earn LINK Loot, all LINK programs are open to any student, regardless of class standing.

Summer’s event is a LINK Lottery, fall has a scholarship giveaway and the yearly LINK auction will be held in the spring term instead of fall as in the past.

LINK is a program of the Office of First Year Experience in the Division of Student Development and Enrollment Services. For a list of current programs, visit: . For questions or offices interested to become a campus partner, email Abby Nobili at: abby.nobili@ucf.edu.

Raymond Ng was excited to win the grand prize, tuition scholarship. “LINK helped me more than I thought it would and proved to be an extraordinary aid in self edification,� said Ng. “I feel that many of the workshops and events helped me learn a lot more and how to better myself and my education.� Other prizes included a UCF Dining meal plan for the 2010-2011 academic year, acoustic guitar, Wolverine DVD, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3 game console, UCF Spirit Packs, tickets to Universal Studios, a Tom Tom GPS unit, and many gift cards donated by local restaurants. There were also raffle drawings throughout the night, which offered the chance to win prizes for any of the students in attendance.

“The bidding for items was competitive and students fiercely tried to outbid each other for the prizes they wanted� said Josh Wheeler, First Year Experience coordinator and auctioneer.�

The LINK staff announced they will have a raffle in the Spring instead of an auction. At the Spring Raffle, there will be multiple tiers of prizes. Each tier will have raffle tickets that can be purchased with a corresponding number of LINK Loot. For example, students can purchase raffle tickets for 10,000 LINK Loot at the grand prize table, but can purchase tickets for 500 Loot at the third-tier table. By changing the format, more students will have a chance at the prizes, with or without the most Loot points.

“Having a Spring Raffle will allow us to keep the energy and momentum high, while increasing the suspense and fun of the event,� said Emily Jensen, coordinator for the LINK program. The Spring Raffle will take place on April 20 at 6 p.m. in the Student Union Pegasus Ballroom. For more information on the LINK program, visit: .

LINK is a program in the Office of First Year Experience in the Division of Student Development and Enrollment Services (SDES).