Activate & Living Well Food Drive

Activate and Living Well will be putting on a joint food drive on campus. This food drive will be between April 4^th and April 18^th. There will be four collection bins around campus where students, faculty, and staff can deposit their donations. There will also be a QR code where students will be able to submit their information to earn campus cup points! This food drive will commence with a Living Well Food Market hosted on the campus lawn on April 19^th.

Jess Van Winkle oversees Living Well initiatives as the Student Success and Retention Coordinator. She says, “This will be a great opportunity for students to be involved in the work of Living Well and help provide food for their peers.”

In terms of donations, Activate and Living Well are hoping for canned fruit, pasta sauce, toiletries, jelly, soup, cereal, snacks, bagged rice, laundry supplies, or any other shelf stable dry food. All the food that will be collected during this two-week period will be given to Living Well to then give back to the Vanguard community.

The collection of food, toiletries, and laundry supplies will greatly benefit Living Well. Jess Van Winkle says, “We have seen an amazing increase in students and staff utilizing the food pantry. The more that use it, the more food we provide for our community, so we are always in need of more good food.”

The collection bins will be spread around campus. There will be one by the William J. Seymour Building, one by the O. Cope Budge Library, one by the Tower’s Lobby, and one by the Waugh Student Center. A poster will be on these bins indicating it is for food drive donations. The poster will also contain a QR that must be filled out – with name, campus cup area, and student identification number, in order for students to earn campus cup points for their campus cup area.

To conclude this food drive, there will be a Pop-Up Living Well Market outside of the Waugh Student Center on April 18^th. This will be an opportunity for members of the Vanguard community to come and acquire some of the donations provided from the food drive and from the pantry itself.

Jess Van Winkle says, “It will be a pop-up style tent outside the student center where students can more easily come shop and take home food.” This will be a great opportunity for students who may not be familiar with Living Well to get to know more.

We are encouraging all students, faculty, and staff to donate whatever they can, if they have an opportunity! This all goes back to helping and strengthening our own Vanguard community.