This fall, Mizzou Hillel began a new project aimed at helping the community called Challah for Hunger.

The project’s goal is to raise money for the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri, headquartered in Columbia.

Students and community members could order challah, traditional Jewish egg bread, online through Sept. 17. The challahs were then baked and prepared for pickup. The profits from the challah sale will be donated directly to the food bank.

Hillel members have been making challah for the past year for Shabbat services,Jeanne Snodgrass, executive director of Mizzou Hillel, said.

“The challah is really good,” senior and frequent Hillel attendee Delia Rainey said.

While this is a new program for Mizzou Hillel, it is not a new program nationally.

Snodgrass said Challah for Hunger is a project on college campuses all over the country.

Snodgrass described the project as part of a concept in Judaism called _tikkun olam_, or “repairing the world.”

“It’s not just about building a better Jewish community, but a better overall community and a better overall world,” Snodgrass said.

Senior Laurin Wilson, who has been heavily involved in both the challah making and trips to the food bank, is the student intern working on the project.

She explained the Jewish idea of a _mitzvah_, which she said is “essentially doing a good deed.”

Wilson said this project is a good deed to which she feels she can use her skills to contribute.

Amanda Rainey, Mizzou Hillel’s programming and engagement associate, said the project itself is very connected to the Jewish holidays with which it coincides, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

“It’s a good time for personal reflection but also for doing something to give back to the community,” she said. “It’s something for our students to be able to partake in for Rosh Hashanah, but also to raise money for the food bank.”

Both Snodgrass and Wilson said the project was successful this year.

Wilson said she didn’t run into any problems with the project, and thanks to word of mouth, it turned out to be bigger than she expected.

Snodgrass said she believes the project will gain momentum in the coming years as more people become aware of it.

Amanda Rainey said that Hillel sends students to volunteer at the food bank several times a year. She said the food bank is an easy place to volunteer as volunteers don’t need training and aren’t required to put in a certain number of hours.

“We can go and do work there that will make a difference in even two hours,” she said. “We love working with them, and we’re happy to donate our time and also the money from this program.”

Mike DeSantis, communications and marketing coordinator for the food bank, said the money Mizzou Hillel donates will go straight toward purchasing food.

According to the food bank’s website, last year 98.1 cents of every dollar donated was used to help purchase food. For every dollar, the food bank can purchase 15 pounds of food, which is equal to 11 meals.

Snodgrass said while this is the only new social action project that Hillel will be doing this year, they will be continuing projects from last year, including volunteering at the food bank and animal shelter, participating in Relay for Life and hosting the Social Justice Seder.