Kevin Bacon selected this year’s “Do Good” challenge winner last night.
After Kevin Bacon spent months pondering how to combine marketing with charity, he realized he could use his image to inspire one main demographic: college-aged philanthropists.
The actor decided to lend himself to a new annual contest sponsored by the public policy school’s Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Team Program, the Do Good Challenge. Yesterday, co-judges Bacon, former men’s basketball coach Gary Williams and Joy Bauer of the TODAY Show heard representatives from six different student groups and ultimately awarded a $5,000 prize to members of Food Recovery Network, which collects leftover food from university dining halls and events to donate to shelters.
The Do Good Challenge asked students to participate in one of three ways – to develop a project for a charitable cause or “do good” for a student group on the campus or a non-profit organization.
Andrew Bresee, the group’s senior national field coordinator, said he did not anticipate winning the competition, despite Food Recovery Network’s efforts to save 6,700 meals, which is the equivalent of $26,800 at $4 per meal.
“It’s just a dream … and I wasn’t expecting to win,” said Bresee, a junior environmental science and technology major.
Bacon said he first felt inspired to participate in the contest after he created a trivia game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, based on the idea that he can be connected to any other living or deceased actor in six steps or less.
“If you just think about the concept and there’s no Kevin Bacon piece of it, it’s a beautiful concept – we are all connected,” he said. “The stuff we do affects our neighbors down the block and everyone around the world.”
Members from the six finalist organizations gave six-minute pitches about how their philanthropic efforts impacted the university community.
The audience voted for their top three favorite presentations – which were Students Helping Honduras, Food Recovery Network and Zeta Tau Alpha – and the judges picked and awarded the winner.
Bresee said he would have liked to see all the groups receive some funds for participating.
“We have a tremendous amount of fantastic competition,” Bresee said. “It’s kind of sad that some of them didn’t win.”
While he was on the campus yesterday afternoon, Bacon also visited a small group of students in HONR349I: Leading and Investing in Social Change: Redefining and Experimenting with Philanthropy, where he shared his experiences venturing into philanthropy and striving for a far-reaching impact.
“You can’t just have a website; people have to come to it,” Bacon said. “It has to be something that pulls people in and attracts people.”
Several students in the class, such as freshman business and Spanish major Olivia Serrat, said seeing Bacon use star power to further his charitable goals was inspiring.
“It’s amazing seeing the impact it actually can have in the real world,” Serrat said. “Seeing everything that Kevin has been able to accomplish is incredible. … He uses all of his opportunities to turn around and help so much.”
After a 30-minute question and answer session, Bacon then turned the tables on the class, asking them why they chose to pursue philanthropy as a career.
“I love the idea of trying to give back – it makes me feel good,” said junior French and elementary education major Caitlin Virta. “It’s just a great way to live.”
foley@umdbk.com
