GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — East Carolina University Honors College students showed their appreciation for the community through volunteering. On Monday, the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina hosted a service event.

Their generosity and dedication to the Greenville community they call home showed during their volunteering.

“ECU’s motto is SERVIR, so service is deeply rooted in ECU’s core values,” said ECU junior Marysa Gavnkar. “So part of the honors college it’s so important to showcase those values.”

Gavankar also said what inspires her to give back to the community is Greenville is the first place she calls home.

“Volunteering and service is just really really crucial to being an altruistic well-rounded person,” Gavankar said. “I just think it’s important and everyone can benefit from it.”

Claire Hefner is majoring in supply chain management and said volunteering at the food bank gives her a taste of what’s to come.

“I hope to work at it through a nonprofit kind of basis, so if I could do supply chain in an organization like this whether it’s a food bank or any other type of nonprofit or organization that’s impacting the community, I really would love,” said Hefner, a sophomore.

Amrina Rangar is the president of the ECU Honors College Student Council. She said being a leader and serving the community goes hand in hand.

“I think to be an influential prosperous leader and effective in community management and all that kind of stuff, you have to be on the ground and see what people need and want and you have to be willing to do the work too,” Rangar said.

Coordinators with the food bank said once the produce gets packaged, local soup kitchens and other agencies in the area will come by to pick them up and ship them out to those who need it.