Tag Archive for: Governor’s Food Drive

Food pantry inventory is low, with food drive underway

February Food Drive addresses demands on SOU Food Pantry

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(Ashland, Ore.) — The timing of this month’s February Food Drive couldn’t be better for Southern Oregon University’s Student Food Pantry, which directly benefits from all food and monetary donations generated by the food drive. The on-campus Food Pantry has nearly been emptied by a combination of unprecedented use and high student need.

A total of 943 student visits to the Food Pantry in SOU’s Stevenson Union have been logged, to date, through this academic year’s summer, fall and winter terms. That’s almost double the 479 total visits to the Food Pantry during the previous, full academic year.

“Frankly, without the Food Pantry, I would have to drop out of college,” one student said in a recent, anonymous user survey. “My roommate and I depend on the food pantry to get necessary food, like canned fruits and veggies, that we just wouldn’t be able to afford. We likely would only be able to eat macaroni and ramen without the food pantry – which isn’t enough to truly support the level of work I do, or the studying I need to do for my degree.”

“During the school year, I can’t work enough to pay rent, bills, books, parking, etc., and cover all food costs,” another student said in the Food Pantry’s user survey.

SOU’s February Food Drive – part of the Governor’s State Employee Food Drive – began Feb. 1, continues through the end of the month and will support the Student Food Pantry’s operations throughout the year. ACCESS, the Community Action Agency for Jackson County, brings supplies to the SOU pantry each week, but those donated items are often gone within a day or two.

Anyone can make a one-time monetary donation online, and employees have the additional option of signing up for a monthly payroll deduction. Visit giving.sou.edu/food-pantry and donate by Feb. 28 to participate in the February Food Drive.

The popular “Fill the Bin” building competition is also back for the 2023 food drive, with the building that collects the largest volume of non-perishable food items by weight receiving bragging rights for the year. Collection bins have been placed on the main floor of all SOU buildings – including community drop-off stations in the box office for the Oregon Center for the Arts at SOU, the Stevenson Union foyer and in Lithia Motors Pavilion – and will be collected and weighed on Friday, March 3.

The goals of this year’s food drive are to generate monetary donations of $6,000 and at least 3,000 pounds of food – the combined equivalent of about 20,000 meals.

Items in highest demand at the Student Food Pantry include hearty soups, instant oatmeal, microwaveable/instant meals, nut butters, pasta, pasta sauce, canned beans, cereal, non-dairy milk and snack bars.

Questions about the food drive or the Student Food Pantry can be directed to foodpantry@sou.edu or visit the February Food Drive website at www.sou.edu/fooddrive for more information.

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Food drive seeks donations to SOU Student Food Pantry

Employees and others urged to help SOU students by participating in governor’s food drive

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SOU President Linda Schott has reached out to the university’s employees, asking them to help reduce food insecurity on campus by donating as they are able to the annual Governor’s State Employee Food Drive, which runs through February. All food or money contributed at SOU will go directly to the Student Food Pantry.

“I recognize that we are all in difficult times, but for those of you who are able, please consider helping the Student Food Pantry reach its goal of raising $5,000 this month to help sustain its charitable mission through the year,” the president wrote in an email to employees.

A 2018 survey in the “Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition” found that 43.5 percent of U.S. college and university students face food insecurity – a much higher rate that the 13 percent of households nationwide that were found in an earlier study. Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon – a Portland nonprofit that works with students, organizations, schools and legislators – polled 197 students last year from 11 public colleges and universities, and found that 71 percent had experienced food insecurity in the previous 12 months.

“The most difficult thing about college should be the academic coursework, but it isn’t,” one student from Columbia Gorge Community College told the nonprofit. “The most difficult thing is trying to survive without incurring soul-crushing debt or breaking yourself by working extra jobs to make ends meet. ‘Choosing’ between buying books for your class, medicine you need to live and food to eat isn’t really a choice – it’s just picking the least horrible path.”

SOU’s Student Food Pantry provided 195 bags of 10 food items each to more than 90 students facing food insecurity during fall term 2020.

Employees and others who wish to help SOU students by donating to the Governor’s State Employee Food drive will have three options this year:

  • Non-perishable food donations can be dropped off at the Stevenson Union’s Welcome Desk anytime from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday. Items the Food Pantry could use the most include hearty soups (both meat and vegetarian), instant oatmeal, non-dairy shelf-stable milk, canned beans, canned vegetables and granola bars. Contact the Student Food Pantry at foodpantry@sou.edu with any questions.
  • Anyone can make a contribution via a one-time donation by visiting the Food Pantry website. The form is always available and donations are accepted throughout the year.
  • SOU employees are encouraged to sign up for monthly payroll contributions to provide ongoing support for the Student Food Pantry. You may fill out a Payroll Deduction Form and send the electronic copy directly to the SOU Foundation at SOUFoundation@sou.edu by Feb. 28. Those completing the form should select “other” and fill in “SOU Food Pantry” as the fund.
The Governor's Food Drive at SOU will help students with unreliable access to food

Governor’s State Employee Food Drive to run through February at SOU

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All food and cash donations collected at SOU during the seventh annual Governor’s State Employee Food Drive – which runs through February – will go to the Student Food Pantry and SOU students with unreliable access to food. Payroll deductions will support food assistance programs at ACCESS – the region’s community action agency.

“The most needed items at the SOU food pantry include boxed meals, soups, oatmeal, peanut butter, canned tuna, tortillas, canned fruit and other non-perishable items,” said Jill Smedstad, the environmental and community engagement coordinator for Student Life.

Recent studies have shown that as many as half of all U.S. college students have unreliable access to nutritious food. The Food Pantry provides SOU students who are in need with as many as 10 items of nonperishable food or hygiene supplies each week. Donations through the Governor’s Food Drive go directly toward supporting the Food Pantry.

“Overall, the total pounds collected (last year), including the pounds equivalent to the monetary donations, was 10,697,” Smedstad said. “This is equal to about 8,000 meals. This year we are hoping to increase both pounds of food donated and monetary donations through employee payroll deductions, with a goal of raising the equivalent of 10,000 meals.”

Red collection bags are expected to be delivered soon by campus mail to all SOU employees for the food collection competition among campus buildings, which is coordinated by the Student Sustainability Center. The bags can be filled with non-perishable food items and returned anytime this month to collection barrels located in each building. Employees may also sign up for monthly or one-time payroll deductions and submit the form to Michele Barlow in Human Resources.

Those who donate will help students in need and also have a chance to win awards and prizes for their good deeds. SOU Dining will offer a prize of coffee and snacks to employees from the building that collects the most pounds of donated food, with a dollar considered the equivalent of four pounds. All employees who sign up for payroll deductions will also be entered into a drawing for various prizes.

Other events associated with the food drive include a free concert, featuring student and faculty musical groups, presented by SOU’s Oregon Center for the Arts. Admission to the “Feed Body and Soul” concert – at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, in the Music Recital Hall – will be two cans of food or a cash donation at the door. Performing artists include Left Edge Percussion, SOU Jazz Combo, SOU Chamber Choir, and Mazama Saxophone Quartet.

SOU Athletics will collect nonperishable food donations at the women’s wrestling match on Feb. 20, and at the mens and womens basketball games on Feb. 21.

“While the Governor’s State Employee Food Drive is focused specifically on soliciting donations from employees, students who can are certainly encouraged to donate as well – at athletic games, at the ‘Feed Body and Soul Concert’, or by putting cans in any of the barrels around campus,” Smedstad said.

The Student Sustainability Center will host a day of service with ACCESS at its food warehouse in Medford, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 29. The entire SOU community is invited – students, employees, alumni, and friends and family. Transportation to and from Medford will be offered, and lunch will be provided. Sign up or find more information about the event online at tinyurl.com/SOUvolunteer2020 after Feb. 1.

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

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Governor’s Food Drive fills the shelves at SOU Student Food Pantry

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The SOU community contributed non-perishable food and payroll deductions equivalent to a total of 8,022 meals during this year’s Governor’s Food Drive, which directly benefits the university’s Student Food Pantry and those who rely on it.

The university’s payroll deductions are down somewhat this year, but donations to the Student Food Pantry hit a record high with 1,809 pounds of nonperishable food. Collections bins at all buildings on campus accounted for 1,580 pounds of donated food, and a benefit concert sponsored by the Oregon Center for the Arts at SOU drew another 229 pounds.

The Governor’s Food Drive draws donations each February from state government and public university employees throughout Oregon, to support the Oregon Food Bank Network. SOU arranged for its food donations to go directly to its Student Food Pantry, which provides SOU students who are in need with as many as 10 items of nonperishable food or hygiene supplies each week.

Prizes were awarded this year for those who participated in either the payroll deductions or food donations portion of the drive.

Associate Registrar Katrina Simpson won a drawing for all of those who signed up for payroll deductions, and will receive two tickets to the Chamber Music Concerts, an affiliate organization of the SOU Foundation.

Employees of Churchill Hall – which collected almost 215 pounds of food in its collection barrels, the most of any building on campus – will be treated to coffee and snacks by SOU Dining and A’viands. Central Hall finished in a close second place, with 202 pounds of food collected.

Governor's Food Drive SOU

Governor’s Food Drive heads into home stretch at SOU

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Just over a week remains in the annual Governor’s Food Drive, and SOU employees and students are encouraged to participate through food donations or payroll deductions.

The food drive, which runs through February, draws donations from state government and public university employees throughout Oregon to support the Oregon Food Bank Network. However, all food donated at SOU goes directly to the university’s Student Food Pantry, which provides food and other basic necessities to students who are in need.

Individual students and employees have stepped up to participate in the Governor’s Food Drive, as have various university departments and programs. SOU’s Oregon Center for the Arts sponsored a benefit concert, “Feed the Body and Soul,” which raised more than $200 in cash donations and 200 pounds of items for the food drive last week.

All SOU employees have been provided red collection bags, which they can fill with donated items and then return to barrels located in buildings throughout campus. A reward of coffee and snacks will be provided by SOU Dining and A’viands to employees from the building that collects the most food.

Employees’ monetary donations can be made by signing up for monthly or one-time payroll deductions, and submitting the completed form to Michele Barlow in Human Resources. Those donations support food assistance programs at ACCESS, Jackson County’s community action agency.

All employees who sign up for payroll deductions are entered into drawings for various prizes.

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Governor’s Food Drive will help SOU students in need

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The annual Governor’s Food Drive is up and running through February at SOU, and those who contribute can make a real difference for students with unreliable access to food and other community members in need.

All food collected in campaign at SOU will be donated to the university’s Student Food Pantry, and monetary donations will support food assistance programs at ACCESS – the region’s community action agency.

“Our donations of food or pledges of monetary support can make a very real impact on hunger – not on the other side of the world, or in another part of the country, but right here on our campus,” SOU President Linda Schott said in announcing the food drive last month.

Recent studies have shown that as many as half of all U.S. college students have unreliable access to nutritious food. The Governor’s Food Drive draws donations from state government and public university employees throughout Oregon to support the Oregon Food Bank Network – but SOU has arranged for its food donations to go directly to its Student Food Pantry.

The Food Pantry provides SOU students who are in need with as many as 10 items of nonperishable food or hygiene supplies each week.

Red collection bags are expected to be delivered soon by campus mail to all SOU employees. The bags can be filled with non-perishable food items and returned anytime this month to collection barrels located in each building. SOU Dining and A’viands will offer a prize of coffee and snacks to employees from the building that collects the most pounds of donated food.

Employees may also sign up for monthly or one-time payroll deductions and submit the form to Michele Barlow in Human Resources. Each dollar donated is considered the equivalent of four pounds of donated food.

All employees who sign up for a payroll deduction, regardless of the amount, will be entered into a drawing for various prizes.

Other events associated with the food drive include a free concert, featuring student and faculty musical groups, presented by SOU’s Oregon Center for the Arts. Admission to the “Feed Body and Soul” concert – at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12, in the Music Recital Hall – will be two cans of food or a cash donation at the door.

SOU Athletics will collect nonperishable food donations at the women’s and men’s basketball games on Feb. 15 against College of Idaho and Feb. 16 against Eastern Oregon University. Tip-offs will be at 5:30 p.m. each day for the women’s games and 7:30 p.m. for the men’s games.