Ryan Lloyd brings relief to those suffering from hunger, both physical and spiritual.
Lloyd, junior in pre-social work, said he is passionate about changing the community. This year, Lloyd was the local missions coordinator for the Auburn Wesley Foundation and helped organize four different mission projects.
Lloyd corrals college students to tutor kids through the Loachapoka Elementary School after-school program.
On Saturdays, he challenges students with Super Mission Saturday and even finds time to work with the Loachapoka Food Pantry.
"I am not from Alabama, and so I didn't know anything about it when I moved here," Lloyd said. "Poverty is such a real thing here and hunger is such a real thing, it just blew me away. It made me want to do something about it, so luckily I have this place to filter that."
Lloyd, 20, was originally from Houston. Last year, he took hunger studies and said the course threw his world upside-down and opened his eyes to so many things. He said he is passionate about hunger related issues.
Lloyd is working in a partnership with the Society of Saint Andrews on projects focused on gleaning and food wastage. With the Society of Saint Andrews, Lloyd coordinates "potato drop" gleaning projects throughout the year. He said his favorite community-outreach project was working with the Loachapoka Food Pantry.
"People in poverty have this stigma that they are lazy and trying to beat the system," Lloyd said. "Being able to interact with them is super cool and just being able to hope and pray that we are meeting some tangible need."
The Loachapoka Food Pantry is based at the Loachapoka Methodist Church. The first Tuesday of every month, families come to the church to recieve 49 pounds of food.
"I think students live in a white, middle-class bubble and that's all that we know," Lloyd said. "A lot of us have grown up in it and, now, we are at Auburn and in it again."
Lloyd's said his desipite his major is in social work, but he said he does not want to be a social worker. His minor is in philanthropy and non-profit studies. He said he wants to work for a Christian, non-profit organization, preferably something hunger-related.
Lloyd said working with the Loachapoka Food Pantry is an opportunity for students to realize how people live 10 minutes from the University.
"To get us outside of ourselves because I think that's what Christ calls us to do," Lloyd said. "We should get outside of ourselves and outside of our minds and invest in the people around us."
Lloyd said he believes social work plays into this work well because it teaches how to look at people and how to think when you meet people. It teaches to not just make snap judgments and listen to stereotypes.
"That's really easy, it's very natural," Lloyd said. "Social work is teaching me that there is much more to a person than that and people are so much further beyond the stereotype."
Lloyd said his coursework taught him to understand the connections between a person's background and surroundings to see a holistic picture of a person.
"Humans are naturally judgmental," Lloyd said. "Jesus teaches us not to be judgmental, so I guess social work is helping me how to view people and learning what it means to help a person."
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