Support Pack Essentials on Day of Giving

On March 26, NC State’s Annual Day of Giving, multiple alums are stepping forward to help the Pack Essentials program continue to support NC State students facing food and housing insecurity. 

To inspire donors to give, Brad Remmey, ‘94 and Ginny Remmey will give $50,000, and Steve Deaton, ‘79 and Gladys Deaton will give $25,000 when the Pack Essentials Fund reaches 350 total gifts on Day of Giving.

Brad Remmey, who served on the NC State University Foundation Board from 2014-2022, said that he remembered a study about student food and housing insecurity at NC State. After finding out that the number of students facing one of those two issues was about 17%, Remmey felt deeply moved to support these efforts. 

“I couldn’t imagine students trying to focus on writing a paper while worried about where their next meal was coming from,” Remmey said. “I thought it was a crucial area in which to give back and fill a gap where there’s a striking need for students.”

Since its inception in 2017, Pack Essentials, which houses the Student Emergency Fund, Feed the Pack Food Pantry and other services, has worked tirelessly to combat basic needs insecurity for NC State students. 

“My wife and I have been supporting the Student Emergency Fund, Meal Plan Scholarships, Housing Scholarships and the Food Pantry for several years so we wanted to bring attention to Pack Essentials as the overarching umbrella for all these initiatives to support students’ basic needs,” Steve Deaton said. 

Stevie Kimmet, the program’s director, said Pack Essentials aims to let NC State students know that they have options for support. 

“I think about the students we’ve helped avoid eviction and the students who struggle to get enough to eat while studying for final exams,” Kimmet said. “We call ourselves the basic needs resource on NC State’s campus because these are things that people need in order to function and thrive as students.” 

Last year, Feed the Pack received about 145,000 pounds of donated food, but distributed over 260,000 pounds, with the remainder being purchased. Last year’s Day of Giving, which included a $50,000 challenge gift from the Deatons, allowed the program to purchase its own van for food pickup and distribution. 

“These types of gifts are truly transformative for our program in terms of being able to keep up with demand and really push this program forward in terms of addressing need creatively and responsively,” Kimmet said. 

The $75,000 total gift this year will be the largest gift challenge in Pack Essentials’ program history, as these efforts continue to raise awareness for the critical needs filled by the program’s services. 

“To be honest, there’s such a lack of awareness surrounding this issue of insecurity,” Remmey said. “You think that all of these kids live in dorms or houses, you think they all have meal cards, and it’s just not the case. You’re naive to that as a person until you have studied it, read about it or have seen it.”

The nature of this gift, with the $75,000 challenge being unlocked when Pack Essentials reaches 350 total gifts, aims to encourage participation and raise awareness. 

Kimmet said that last year, through the work of donors like Deaton and Remmey encouraging their communities, Pack Essentials saw an increase in donors supporting the program. You can support the Pack Essentials Fund this Day of Giving here: https://dayofgiving.ncsu.edu/campaigns/pack-essentials-fund

“Your gift makes a difference,” Deaton said. “I have been very involved in Pack Essentials and have seen the impact that my gifts have made in the lives of individual students. In some cases, it’s the difference between continuing to pursue their degree or dropping out. This is one area of giving where every dollar has a great impact. Please consider a gift to Pack Essentials on Day of Giving 2025.”