(COLUMBIA, SC) On Monday, January 17, almost 150 Columbia College students, faculty and staff members gathered in front of Asbury Freshman Center to bag a tractor-trailer load of sweet potatoes to benefit hungry families in the Midlands.

The project, sponsored by Columbia College Serves and the Office of the Chaplain, was part of the College's observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Approximately 45,000 pounds of sweet potatoes were provided by The Society of St. Andrew, a national Christian hunger relief organization. The Society feeds the hungry on a continuing basis in communities across the country by saving fresh produce that would otherwise go to waste. Through the Potato Project, begun in 1983, The Society delivers about 20 million pounds of potatoes per year to the nation's hungry.

The potatoes bagged at Columbia College will be distributed throughout the Midlands by Columbia's Harvest Hope Food Bank.