The second year of the food drive contest got started on Monday, April 11 and ended on Friday, May 6.
The drive is housed by the Student Health Center and the main goal was to replenish goods for students in need.
Department Chair of Kinesiology and Fitness Carrie Edwards and also primary coordinator of the food project discussed how the food drive came about.
She said, “There is an interdisciplinary project on campus called the food project. It is the idea of using one theme in all disciplines in some way, for example writing classes will write about food.
“I was then asked to be on the sub-committee and one of things we talked about was the access to food or lack of access food and what that meant. I learned that a lot of people weren’t aware that we had a food bank that had started on campus. One thing led to another and that became part of the overall food project.”
She added, “We decided to turn it into a contest because we really wanted to engage people to participate and do as much as we could with it.
“Usually if there is incentives or that type of fun involvement it tends to engage people a bit more. We tried to get as many different people involved as possible. We have some key groups that were really vying for first place last year that are in it this year.”
The drive is structured so that any group, division or department can participate. The top items that were in demand were oatmeal, cereal, granola bars, canned fruits, canned chicken, cup o noodles, pastas, sauces, and many others.
Last year, 15 groups collected food like financial aid, campus police, Kpop Club, athletics, counseling, radio among others.
The winner of the food drive contest would receive a plaque created by the welding group and a pizza party.
Over 1000 goods were collected and the group with the most was Financial Aid with 222 collected.
Edwards explained that the ultimate goal for the contest was to improve and bring awareness to students about the drive.
“Our goal is that each group that participated last year beat their output that the previous year. Be aware that the food drive exists on campus because I know that students don’t know whats available.
“Last year whenever I would tell someone about it they would say that there is a student in their class that could really benefit from it. It’s a service that people need to know exist and comfortable using.”
The Health Center will provide students with a bag of food that will last three days and students who need ongoing support will be connected with resources that can help them.
