STLCC-Meramec students ‘can’ hunger in the St. Louis area in a March Madness can food drive.
By: Tim Doty
-Copy Editor-
This spring, STLCC-Meramec students, staff and faculty will have the opportunity to donate canned goods in an effort to “can” hunger in the St. Louis area.
The March Madness can food drive, going on until March 11 and sponsored by the Student Governance Council and Service Learning, is an attempt to raise one ton of food to benefit Circle of Concern food pantry located in Valley Park, Mo.
“The goal is one ton of food. We are basing that on 16-ounce cans,” said Sharon Holt, administrative assistant for student affairs.
The event was designed by Holt along with Kelly Hadley of advising and counseling. The drive will collect canned goods and nonperishable food items. Hadley said there are not many food drives in the spring, but people are still going hungry.
“They [Circle of Concern] do need to have a lot replenished because of the holidays in the fall and I don’t know that they always get that all replenished because there’s not a lot of food drives in the spring. It made good sense because people need food year round. They don’t just need it during the holidays,” Hadley said.
With the economy in its current state, Holt said the Circle of Concern has had a variety of people in need for food.
“Their need is constantly growing. The economy has really hit hard. There are people coming in who would never have imagined they would be going to a food pantry. There are Ph.D’s who have worked for 20 years. Since we do food drives on campus, this was something that reached out into the community,” Holt said.
There is a competition added to this food drive for charity. Instead of only students, faculty members are also encouraged to compete. Rather than teams organized by class, however, the various buildings on the Meramec campus will constitute the teams.
“Sharon [Holt] was the one who came up with the idea to have instead of just being the students to have the staff compete. We never really did a competition between the buildings,” Hadley said.
The ten teams are comprised of the buildings on campus, some of which are grouped together. The teams are Communications North and South; the library and center for teaching and learning; Physical Education; Business Administration; Clark Hall; Applied Science, Science West and South; Humanities East and West; Social Science; Student Center; and at the South County Education and University Center.
“The number of people on the teams is based on full-time faculty and staff. We had to come up with a number to work with,” Holt said.
In order to meet the one-ton goal, each building needs to collect a certain number of cans.“Based on that, you figure 16-ounce cans and this is the number of cans, to level the playing field, that each team will have to come up with in order to have one ton of food,” Holt said.
For example, Clark Hall needs to collect 402 cans, while the Social Science building needs 74 cans. Barrels are located in locations in these buildings throughout campus. The art on the barrels was created by graphic design students at Meramec.
In keeping with the March Madness theme, there are also two free-throw contests scheduled. For a four-can entry fee, any member of the student body, faculty, staff or administrators can participate in a competition of free-throws in the Meramec gym.
“At the free-throw [contest], there will be prizes,” Hadley said.
The first contest is scheduled at noon on Feb. 24 in the gym. A second contest will also be held at 1 p.m. on March 1. In the event of a tie, a basketball shootout is scheduled at 12:30 p.m. on March 3, also in the gym.No matter the outcome of the free-throw contests or the food drive, Circle of Concern will receive the donations from the Meramec campus.
“The biggest winners will be the people who come to Circle of Concern for the pantry. That’s what it’s about,” Holt said.
