As the month-long Hunger Challenge comes to a close on Friday, the Student Volunteer Center has a few more events left, one of which is a run/walk around Campus Pond.

The Freeze Out Hunger 3K will start at 4 p.m. by the Campus Pavilion and follow the Panther Trail. The registration fee is $10, and the proceeds will go to the Charleston Food Pantry.

Sam Sarich, a senior history major, works with the Student Volunteer Center and said she has helped organize many of the activities.

Sarich said for every dollar raised, the food pantry can help provide $10 worth of food for the pantry.

“Currently, we’ve raised about $600 for the food pantry,” Sarich said. “That’s about $6,000 worth of food.”

While the $10 registration fee will go directly to the pantry, Sarich said the first 100 people to register for the race will receive a free race T-shirt.

The shirts will have long sleeves and be white.

Rachel Fisher, the director of the Student Volunteer Center, said the race will not be timed and no awards will be given out.

Despite this, Fisher said participants are more than welcome to time themselves to track their progress. Fisher describes it as a “fun run.”

“We like to think the reward of this event is helping the community,” Fisher said. “It’s just to celebrate what we have to offer the community and help support the food pantry and the community.”

She said what is cool about this run is how quickly participants can make a difference.

“We’re trying to build awareness and show how a small thing can make a difference,” Fisher said. “Just by doing this quick walk, you are automatically raising $100 in food.”

Fisher said this was something the center did last year and decided to bring back to this year’s hunger challenge because of its popularity.

“We asked students what events they really liked and decided to do this again,” Fisher said.

Although the race begins at 4 p.m., Fisher said registration and check in will begin at 3:30 p.m.

The Hunger Challenge ends Friday, and Fisher said that is when they will begin tallying how much money was raised and food collected.

“I know we have at least 300 pounds of food,” Fisher said. “The bins are quite full so we are replacing them and adding more.”

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or alwywialowski@eiu.edu.