Fresno State’s November Food Drive was organized to put a little more on the plate for people in local communities this holiday season
The charity event, which is being managed by Associated Students Inc., was started to encourage student clubs and organizations to donate canned foods to benefit those in need in the El Dorado Park neighborhood near campus.
ASI has set a goal of collecting at least 300 pounds of food in the drive by Friday and will be distribute the food to the community on Saturday.
The food drive is also doubling as a club and organization competition.
Whichever club or organization donates the most food will win a free pizza party from ASI and be honored at a Fresno State men’s basketball game.
So far, 14 clubs and organizations have signed up to compete in the food drive.
The idea for the food drive came about when organizations such as the Fresno State Gun Club reached out to ASI to find a way to help the local community this Thanksgiving.
“A lot of clubs and organizations contacted ASI wanting to do separate food drives,” said Ashleigh Rocker, program and volunteer coordinator for ASI. “But individually they wouldn’t have gained enough food, and they didn’t have enough money to purchase the food.
“So as a group””all the groups and organizations who wanted to do a food drive”” decided to do it together to get as much as they could for this one distribution.”
Nathan Chang, the vice president of the gun club, said this time of year brings out the best altruistic spirit in people. He said the gun club felt a food drive was a good way to tap into that feeling of giving.
“It’s a really easy thing to do,” Chang said. “You get the boxes, decorate them, let people know about them and they drop some food off. It’s simple, plus it’s fairly inexpensive when you think of 20 cents for a can of green beans from Food Maxx. It is easy to make a large impact with little bit of money. We’ve had people donate everything from sunflower seeds to fudge brownie mix.”
Chang said the club has donation boxes at 10 locations, including the Joyal Administration Building and the University Police Department office.
“I want to outdo everyone combined,” Chang said about the charity competition. “I want to double what they do by ourselves.”
The food drive is not the only scheduled campus charity event this holiday season.
After the November Food Drive ends, the Bulldog Pantry’s Caroling for Cans will start.
“They carol around all the departments around Fresno State,” Rocker said. “And they collect cans as they carol.
“In the month of November, it’s clubs and organizations benefiting El Dorado Park, but in December it’s departments on campus collecting canned food within their department and donating it to the Bulldog Pantry.”