The HSU Center for Service Learning & Academic Internships coordinated the event and participation from HSU students, staff council, the bookstore, and campus neighbors were key factors in making this year’s drive successful, organizers said.
“We collected an impressive amount of donations from a couple of neighborhoods near campus, and student and staff groups from campus made some great group efforts," said Jimmy Barnett, HSU student and service learning intern.
As in years past, all campus clubs, departments and offices were asked to participate in the “Hunger Fighter Challenge” to see who could raise the largest amount of food. This year’s winners were the HSU Bookstore and Lambda Theta Alpha sorority.
The end of the year is an important time to donate since food bank demand typically increases in the winter months, says Laura Hughes, local food resources coordinator at the Humboldt County Food Bank. “The efforts on and around campus help us ensure that our friends and neighbors have enough to eat, not just during the holidays, but on through the winter months when donations are down,” she said. “We would not be able to serve the people we do – more than 12,000 people every month—without these sustained community relationships.”
The Center for Service Leaning & Academic Internships also conducts the university’s annual Meal Points Drive at the end of spring semester. During the drive, service learning interns gather unused meal points from HSU students. The meal points are then used to purchase health protein options for the Food Bank’s Backpack for Kids program, which provides needy children with a backpack full of food every Friday. For more information, stop by one of the center’s information tables around campus this spring, visit Nelson Hall West, Room 139 or call (707) 826-4964.