University food drive aids central Virginians

Erica Terrini

News Editor

More than 27,000 people living in central Virginia were fed last week thanks to donations from a university wide food drive by administrative and student organizations from both the Monroe Park and MCV campuses.

The food drive for the Central Virginia Foodbank was devised by Business Services Director Diane Reynolds, who said she became aware of the Central Foodbank’s need for donations and volunteers last year through a radio advertisement.

“In the past they had a lot of volunteers from a lot of corporations, and corporations like Circuit City went out of business,” Reynolds said. “Not only did those volunteers go away, but the people that used to be the volunteers all of the sudden needed the services.”

Reynolds said the drop in volunteers, the increase in demand for the food bank’s services and the needs of about 20,000 Richmond-area school children – who would not be receiving meals in school over the summer break – left remaining volunteers asking the community to replenish the food distribution center’s resources.

Last year, Reynolds said she called her team together and asked what they could do to help as a department. She said within two weeks, she and her co-workers organized the first food drive for the food bank, which lasted for three days and received enough donations to feed about 22,000 people.

“We had a little bit more time (this year) because last year, (when) we decided we wanted to have this as an annual event, we were able to reach out to VCU Community Engagement,” Reynolds said. “Really the goal was to try to get all of the groups … that would do these little pockets of food drives and have one big university food drive effort.”

Tamara Highsmith, the dining sales and service manager, said she worked to coordinate with university departments like Recreational Sports, which featured the drive at the Cary Street Gym. Other organizations included University Relations, Residential Life and Housing and Community Engagement.

Highsmith said the housing department agreed to place some donation bins inside the residential halls this year and the public relations team for VCU has aided in promotional efforts along with Community Engagement.

Rebecca Jones, the marketing and public relations manager for Dining Services, said the campus food service provider, Aramark, donated 460 pounds of food for the drive and some employees are volunteering with the food bank.

Highsmith said many of the donations were gathered from collections spots within the parking decks on campus. She said bins were placed in other areas surrounding high-traffic areas around campus, like the intersection Broad and Harrison streets on the Monroe Park Campus and 11th and Broad streets on the MCV Campus.

The donations collected on campus totaled 13.8 tons of food; however, Reynolds said it is important to keep in mind that monetary donations contribute more than actual food donations. She said one pound of food can feed one person, but $1 can feed 5 people.

Reynolds said if the food bank has a sufficient amount of monetary donations, it can use the money to transport larger donations of food.

Business Services transported the food and monetary donations to the food bank last week and plans to host the drive again next year.

“The need has continued to grow,” Reynolds said. “It’s just such a critical need and especially now with the unemployment rate … there’s an even bigger need this year.”