The largest food drive benefiting the Oregon Food Bank network is once again receiving support from the students, staff and faculty at Western Oregon University.
The Governor's State Employee Food Drive is in its 26th year of operation and has set a goal of collecting 3.5 million pounds of food during the month of February, up from the 3.1 million pounds they collected last year. All proceeds from the Governor's State Employee Food Drive will feed the approximately 194,000 Oregon and Clark County, Wash., residents who need emergency food boxes each month, most of whom are children and seniors living on limited incomes.
Last year, for the first time in school history, Western was the winner of the Governor's State Employee Food Drive raising the most pounds per employee. Western participants were able to raise 118 pounds per employee for a total of 83,728 pounds, beating the nearest competitor, Oregon State University, by more than 30 pounds and increasing their previous year (2004) per capita number by 43 percent. This year, Western is not only looking to recapture this victorious title, but to increase the pounds per employee by reaching their 90,000-pound goal in 28 days.
A variety of on-campus student organizations will be sponsoring events and programs to raise money and collect food in hopes of meeting the 90,000-pound goal. ASWOU: Advocating for Students Rights, has made a personal goal of 20,000 pounds. In addition to collecting food throughout the month, ASWOU will hold an auction on Feb. 27, in the Pacific Room in one last effort to make sure they reach their 20,000-pound goal. The auction will feature items donated by Western staff, faculty, and students.
The Student Activities Board, a group within the ASWOU organization, has already been busy planning several events for the month of February that will benefit the food drive. The soonest of these events is a benefit concert featuring Western student Jason Miller at 8 p.m. in the Den on Thursday, Feb. 9. The following evening, Friday, Feb. 10, students will create a little love, with the proceeds of the Valentine's Day dance going directly to the food drive. The dance will be held in the Pacific Room from 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Looking for a Valentine or maybe just a new friend? Perhaps the Student Activities Board can help. A date auction will be held in the Pacific Room at 7 p.m. on Feb. 13, just in time for Valentine's Day.
The Residence Hall Association (RHA) has set a goal of 13,000 pounds and will be sponsoring an all-hall competition between Landers, Heritage, Arbor Park, Barnum, Butler and Gentle to see who can raise the most food. In addition to the competition, RHA will hit the streets and "Can the Community."
"'Can the Community' is where students go throughout the towns of Monmouth and Independence and knock on doors, asking for goods," said RHA Activities Coordinator Joelle Grossen. "It was very successful last year."
This year's "Can the Community" event will take place on Feb. 18 and Feb. 25 from about noon to 3 p.m. both days.
Additionally, Grossen said, "I am sure each individual hall is planning tactics to help raise food."
Michael Washburn, Barnum hall president, expressed his excitement, "This year's food drive is going to be amazing. With the project just getting started there is already a buzz going around about raising the largest amount of food ever collected by Western." He continued, "We as a hall government have begun discussing some ways to get residents interested in donating food. Some methods include prizes for the pods that collect the most, or perhaps a "Pie the Government Member" activity. All in all, this year promises to be nothing short of amazing!"
The Office of Public Relations has taken the job of raising food donations straight to the kitchen. They will be selling raffle tickets for a gourmet, fully prepared, homemade meal for four; all the winner has to do is heat and enjoy. The meal will include an appetizer, salad, beverage, main course and, of course, dessert. Tickets for the dinner are $2 each or three for $5 and can be purchased through the Public Relations office on the third floor of the Administration Building.
All of the proceeds raised by Western will benefit the Ella Curren Food Bank in Independence, which serves 200 families, about 800 individuals, on a monthly basis in the Polk County area.
Patrick Moser, Assistant Director of Leadership and Operations, has been involved extensively with the drive for several years and stressed the importance of this drive to the food bank, "Last year we were able to give the Ella Curren Food Bank $9,000 in money and 6,000 pounds of food." He continued, "The money we were able to give them paid their bills for four months and allowed them to focus on providing food for those who need it. I can't stress how huge that was for them."
On-campus students wanting to participate in the drive are encouraged to participate in the various hall government and RHA sponsored events. Off campus students looking to help out are encouraged to simply drop their donations by any of the drop off spots in several of the on-campus buildings and in the Werner University Center.