The previous hurricane season, ongoing economic woes and the upcoming holidays
have increased demand for food-bank donations.
UT student groups combined to collect and donate 250 pounds of canned food during a seven-day food drive. The drive ended with students watching as a Capital Area Food Bank truck loaded the food donations at Gregory Gym Plaza on Thursday.
The student-initiated food drive was sponsored by the Longhorn Philanthropy Council and Hunger and Homelessness Outreach.
“[The food drive] is important to the community and will show that [students] can come together for a worthy cause,” said English junior Rebecca Reid, Longhorn Philanthropy co-chair.
“The food bank relies on support from volunteers for manpower and donations,” said Molly Robbins, Capital Area Food Bank community events coordinator.
“School organizations are a big part of doing food drives,” Robbins said. “During the Hurricane Ike food drives, we got food donations from elementaries, ACC and UT.”
Kerri Qunell, a spokeswoman for the food bank, said demand for food has risen by 30 percent since January and attributes the spike to the recent economic downturn.
The Capital Area Food Bank supplies food to 300,000 people every year with distribution to partner agencies such as soup kitchens and food pantries in 21 counties. After the agency receives the food, it either distributes it or cooks it on-site.
In 2007, the food bank distributed more than 15 million pounds of food – or 12 million meals.
“We’re anticipating 20 million pounds of food to be donated this year,” Qunell said.
Business and history sophomore Diya Sikka arrived at the food drive table with bags of canned items from the Honors Business Association. She credits holiday spirit for the tendency to donate during this time of year.
“I think it’s a seasonal thing,” Sikka said. “People want to give more during Thanksgiving and Christmas time when people are thankful for what they have.”
Other participating groups include pharmacy organization Kappa Epsilon, honors fraternity Phi Sigma Pi and the Latter Day Saints Student Association.
Reid said some organizations surpassed expectations but numerous groups failed to honor their commitments.
“We’ll come back bigger and better next year,” Reid said.
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