Food drive just short of goal

Last week, Harrison Hall Resident Assistant Jenna Raymond and her boyfriend Marty Wittmer stood outside King Soopers for more than two hours encouraging patrons to buy an extra can and donate it to Cans to Candelaria.

Their dedication and others' paid off when the canned food drive collected nearly 8,000 pounds of canned foods.

"I had a table and I made a big banner," Raymond said. "Marty and I stopped people as they were going into the store and asked them to consider buying an extra canned good. A lot of people did; it helped."

 In fact, most of the 247 pounds donated from Harrison Hall to Cans to Candelaria on Thursday came from Raymond's collection.

Only one hour after Cans to Candelaria volunteer workers began weighing in goods, five UNC organizations had already turned in their cans and totaled nearly 1,000 pounds by 10 a.m. The food drive continued until 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, and the canned food donated amounted to 7,824 pounds. The biggest contribution made was by Alpha Kappa Psi with a donation of 603 cans.

They were presented with a traveling trophy at the 5 p.m. ceremony. 

In the fall of 2006, during the first Cans to Candelaria drive, the campus and community collected over 4,000 pounds of canned goods for the Weld Food Bank. Lee Anne Peck, an assistant journalism professor who initiated the first food drive, and her students were hoping to hit the 10,000 pound mark this year and stretch the cans from Bishop-Lehr Hall to Candelaria Hall and back again.

Peck estimated the distance from the start to Candelaria was about a half-mile.

 Although Peck and her students did not quite make their goal, there was no reason to be upset. Besides the nearly 8,000 cans, the group received more than $2,000 in donations.

"We are getting there, and I am so happy," Peck said.

More than 60 organizations on campus participated in the event, and many were creative and held mini competitions in order to get their members to donate. The Mirror also participated in Cans to Candelaria.

 The Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Resource office hosted a contest between members to collect cans.

"We gave away a T-shirt and movie tickets to the student who brought in the most cans," said Melissa Flippin, a GLBT member.

Rick Cramer, food solicitor for Weld Food Bank, was grateful for the help from the UNC community for the second year in a row and said the contribution truly made a difference in the lives of others.

"The more community support we get in providing the food, the more affective we can be," Cramer said.

Cans to Candelaria was created by Peck and her public relations students in the spring of 2006. The students wanted to create a PR plan for Weld Food Bank and ended up creating the food drive as their midterm project.