Redmond plans to fund weekly cooking classes

Ronald Redmond is cooking up the idea for his service project as one of UNC’s candidates for 2009 Homecoming king.

The senior plans to work with The Arc of Orange County, a program in Durham that provides weekly cooking classes and other opportunities to students with developmental delays.

Redmond said one of his favorite aspects of the cooking program is that it donates once a month to Meals on Wheels Association of America.

“It shows that even though these students have various disabilities, they still give back to the community,” he said.

And if he wins Homecoming king and is given the $1,000 in the spring to go toward his cause, Redmond said the money will be spent on cooking supplies.

Aprons, food and the program’s first scholarship could all be paid for with the funds from a Homecoming King win.

“The program costs $200,” he said. “And I’d love to provide the money for someone who wouldn’t otherwise have the money to attend the class.”

Redmond is president of Alpha Iota Omega Christian Fraternity and is an Urban Life volunteer at Southern High School in Durham. He is also an active member of the Teaching Fellows program and the Every Nation campus ministry.

Redmond has already become involved with the cooking classes.

“I’ve been in the classrooms twice already, and I don’t plan on leaving,” he said.

Redmond said he feels his commitment to service, which started during his first semester at UNC, makes him a good candidate.

He also said he feels he would be a suitable candidate because of his love for the University and its students.

But ultimately, Redmond said, he is doing it for the kids.

“It’s less about me and more about the students that I’m serving,” he said.

“They were so joyful when I met them for the first time, and I told them that I had adopted their classroom for a service project — and that I could potentially be helping them. So it would be for them.”