![Newport News Campus Update Blog Image](https://www.ecpi.edu/sites/default/files/2026-10/newport-news-campus-update-blog-image.jpg)

# ECPI University's Newport News Ambassadors Help Feed Local Families

## Key Takeaways

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Staff, faculty, and students from ECPI University’s [Newport News campus](https://www.ecpi.edu/locations/newport-news-va) recently spent a day packing hundreds of bags of food for families across the city. It was the first volunteer event for the campus’s Community Engagement & Leadership Club, known as the ECPI Ambassadors.

The group worked alongside the [Virginia Peninsula Foodbank](https://hrfoodbank.org/) and Tabernacle Baptist Church to get the food ready for distribution. The Foodbank has helped feed people across the region since 1986, working with more than 140 local groups.

## What are the ECPI Ambassadors?

The ECPI Ambassadors are a student organization that gets the Newport News campus involved close to home. Members turn out for local events, build relationships with area organizations, and take on projects that help their neighbors. The volunteer event was the group’s first time doing that together.

“I established ECPI Ambassadors to strengthen our engagement with the Newport News community,” says Dr. Duane Stephens, who founded the club. “This initiative reflects my commitment to extending the University’s mission beyond the classroom and creating opportunities for students and employees to demonstrate leadership.”

## Why does volunteering matter at ECPI University?

Volunteering gives ECPI University students a chance to connect with and serve their communities. It also provides practical experiences that develop skills beyond the classroom. Across the University, students and faculty are finding ways to give back.

In Columbia, students and faculty in the Medical Assistant program recently collected cleaning supplies and household items for the [Columbia Dream Center](https://www.ecpi.edu/blog/medical-assisting-drive-columbia-dream-center). At the Virginia Beach campus, members of a student chapter of the Project Management Institute organized a pizza fundraiser and [back-to-school drive](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ecpi-university_this-spring-a-student-chapter-of-the-project-activity-7508932310386446337-R0wA?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAF9T4rwBpr1t8o_6jLi23wg9PF1vbD7o40I) for Green Run Elementary School.

Now, with their first volunteer event complete, the Newport News Ambassadors have joined students across ECPI University in finding ways to support the communities around them.

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