UO employees will take on the annual Governor’s State Employees Food Drive challenge starting Feb. 1, and they’re hoping that creativity and determination will help them meet their goal of 100,000 pounds of donated food.
According to Karen Scheeland, alumni program manager and former director of the food drive at the UO, the university has donated more than 800,000 pounds of food in the last five years. Donation barrels are being distributed around campus for this year’s drive, and preferred foods include shelf-stable milk, canned meats, whole-grain pasta, pasta sauce, rice, canned fruit or vegetables, and canned meals — but not in glass containers.
Cash donations — or better yet, donations through a payroll deduction or credit card — also are welcome. Each $1 donation is considered the equivalent of four pounds of food for the final giving tally.
Matt Roberts, senior director of community relations and operator for this year’s campus food drive, said most of the success of the monthlong food drive can be attributed to the volunteers.
“The volunteers’ creativity leads to the success of this program. Without them this would be nothing,” Roberts said. “They help organize and develop fundraising opportunities, and that’s when the creativity kicks in.”
Roberts mentions that one of those creative fundraising ideas came from the School of Journalism and Communication, which holds an annual online auction for the food drive. The university also has a partnership with Euphoria Chocolates. The university buys a large amount of dark, milk and peanut butter chocolate hearts for $2 a bag and sells the chocolates on campus for $4.
All fundraiser proceeds and donated food goes to Food for Lane County, which uses the donations to help supply food pantries throughout the community. Among them is the student food pantry for the Episcopal Campus Ministry.
Rev. Doug Hale has operated the pantry since 2011, and he says the service helps students from all walks of life.
“There’s quite a variety of students who come through here and quite a variation for how it impacts them,” Hale said. “Sometimes a student has just hit a really critical time in their life, and their financial situation has gotten really bad. For others, they sometimes have to come to the pantry on a monthly basis.”
Former Gov. Victor Atiyeh started the food drive in 1979, when it was originally called Oregon Food Share. The program was a response to cutbacks the federal government was initiating on food stamps, and it was the first statewide food distribution program in the country. Nearly 40 years later, the food drive is still going strong.
Roberts and his crew of volunteers are hoping the UO community’s donations can have a positive effect on anyone in Lane County who might need a helping hand.
“Our food drive goal is 100,000 pounds,” Roberts said. “But our main goal is helping our community and those who are less fortunate than we are. If we’re able to make some positive change for the community around us, then I think it’s worth doing.”
—By Craig Garcia, Public Affairs Communications intern