BATON ROUGE — LSU football players Rodney Reed and Rudy Niswanger spent a portion of Thursday taking part in National Hunger Awareness Day at Nicholson Elementary Magnet School.
National Hunger Awareness Day is a public awareness initiative led by America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, to help inform individuals, communities, corporations and policy makers that hunger – especially that of child hunger – is a severe domestic issue.
Nicholson Elementary Magnet School was one of approximately 2,000 affiliate food banks, food-rescue organizations and their agencies from across the nation that participated in National Hunger Awareness Day.
Reed spoke to over 100 children at the event on the importance of eating healthy, while Niswanger talked about what it takes to win on the field and in the classroom.
“It feels good to be able to give back to the community that is so supportive of our football team,” Reed said. “To be in a position to influence children and hopefully make a difference in someone’s life is a good feeling.”
Reed, a First-Team Academic All-America selection in 2002, enters his fourth season as a starter at offensive tackle for the Tigers. Niswanger, who will be a sophomore in 2003, saw extensive action last year at the center and guard positions for the Tigers.
Reed recently graduated with honors with a 3.95 grade point average in accounting, while Niswanger has a 4.0 gpa in kinesiology with emphasis on human movement. Both players were members of the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll in 2002.