UA4Food, a campus-wide collaborative effort, is holding several food drives as part of the sixth annual UA4Food Drive to benefit the Community Food Bank’s Child Hunger and Nutrition Programs and the Emergency Food Assistance Program in Tucson.
“”Six years ago, there were many food drives at the university,”” said Holly Altman, the director of outreach and community partnerships in the UA office of community relations. “”UA4Food was developed to be an umbrella organization to oversee existing programs as well as develop new efforts.””
While the faculty and staff food drive is focused primarily on receiving donations from those employed at the UA rather than those attending, students still have several options to donate and help UA4Food.
The “”Stuff the CatTran”” event, which is in its second year, is an ongoing effort aimed at filling an entire CatTran with donated food.
“”This was an interesting idea that we had last year,”” said Joyce Childers, a program coordinator for Parking and Transportation Services. “”I’m a member of the Staff Advisory Council, and I work for Parking and Transportation, so I figured I had the ability to make this happen and put our own UA stamp on a ‘Stuff the Bus’ kind of event.””
Students can also parlay donations into discounts at the upcoming Spring Fling. According to Lexy Keffeler, the executive director for Spring Fling 2010, in exchange for four canned food items donated during Spring Fling (April 8 and 9), students can get $5 off a $20 wristband, which allows unlimited rides at the event.
Almost 10,000 pounds of food have already been donated during various UA4Food drives, with the goal for the year being to beat the 35,800 pounds of food donated last year.
UA4Food-sponsored drives also collected over $69,000 last year, with $41,000 of that coming in the form of a special donation from the Marshall Foundation.
“”Obviously we can’t expect last year’s number to hold,”” Altman said. “”But we are confident we can receive enough monetary donations through other means this year.””
Altman added that the Marshall Foundation has pledged to donate matching funds up to $13,000 for UA4Food this year.
“”There are families struggling to make ends meet,”” Altman said. “”They really need help. If people have enough and can give extra, then anything they can do will go a long way. It really feels good to give. It really feels good to help.””
