To lifelong Dripping Springs local Ashley Schenk, hunger is about more than food. It’s about people.
“Hunger is connected to education, healthcare, women’s leadership, agriculture, clean water, local government, and the main thing is opportunity,” Schenk says. “The Hunger Project partners with communities to disrupt those systems so that they can continue to build lasting, self-reliant change.”
For 10 years, Schenk has worked with The Hunger Project, a global nonprofit, currently serving as the Director of Culture & People Development. When her longtime neighbor, Emma Guzman, graduated from Dripping Springs High School in 2024, Schenk recognized in her the leadership qualities vital to The Hunger Project.
Schenk met with Guzman and explained that she was looking for youth leaders committed to making a difference in the world: “I have this program that develops leaders specifically in colleges," she said. "Are you ready to be a change maker?”
With this, the trajectory of Guzman’s future changed. As an incoming freshman at the University of Oklahoma (OU), Guzman’s internship with The Hunger Project led her and Schenk to Zambia in 2025, where she witnessed the program’s work between rural communities, global interns, staff, and investors through a new lens.
“Being able to reflect on Zambia and being an advocate on my own campus is really special,” Guzman says. “At The Hunger Project, we strive to create a world without hunger. Our mission is to start with women, mobilize communities, and engage local government.”
Through the youth movement, FeelGood, the nonprofit empowers university students with a mission to raise awareness and donations through a social enterprise.
Founding OU FeelGood in 2025, Guzman educated her fellow Sooners about The Hunger Project’s mission and vision statement. She created executive positions to grow leadership on campus and spearheaded a social enterprise campaign, launching OU FeelGood merchandise to raise funds for The Hunger Project.
Guzman’s connection with The Hunger Project allowed her to showcase the OU chapter’s fundraising efforts at The Fall Event in 2025 in New York City alongside her hometown neighbor.
“Changing the world very rarely starts with thousands of people; it starts with one person who believes another person is worth investing in, and that's why I love our internship program so much,” Schenk says. “But I think that interconnectedness of the small town community that you have in Dripping really is displayed in communities worldwide.”
From small-town Dripping Springs, Schenk’s world has grown through the nonprofit investor program trips to Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Mexico, and Zambia.
“It's less about one person changing the world and more about creating that chain reaction of people who believe that someone else matters, ”Schenk says.
THP.org | @thehungerproject
Change Makers
Along with Schenk and Guzman, DSCL summer intern Vivian Gomez is committed to ending world hunger. This fall, she is founding a FeelGood chapter at the University of Kansas. For Schenk, it shows how investing in young people creates a ripple effect, extending their impact into new communities.