EIU Media Relations

Director of Eastern Illinois Foodbank to speak about food insecurity at EIU

After serving eight years as executive director of the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, Jim Hires knows that food insecurity is an issue in the Coles County area.

During a lecture titled “Mission to End Hunger” at 7 p.m. Thursday at Eastern Illinois University, Hires plans to enlighten students and community members on ways they can help put an end to food insecurity in their community.

Hires’s lecture, at 7 p.m. in the Charleston/Mattoon room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union, marks the end of EIU’s Hunger Challenge, a month-long awareness event, where student volunteers sponsored many events from food drives, advocacy opportunities and documentary screenings to help bring awareness about hunger and poverty in the region.

Hires is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University where he received bachelor’s degree in history education and a master’s degree in counseling. Before working at the foodbank, Hires worked in the private sector.

The Eastern Illinois Foodbank provides food to more than 200 food agencies and provides local food pantries in Charleston and Mattoon with about 60 to 70 percent of their food.