Campus Currents

Surplus Cafeteria Cash Translates Into Food Drive

It’s not every day that a Walla Walla College student has leftover money. Near the end of the fall quarter, Barbara Anderson, sophomore biology major, was in the cafeteria talking to Toby McCandless, sophomore theology and Spanish major. She mentioned she was not close to spending the cafeteria minimum of $462 that would be charged to her account for the quarter. She expressed her wish to use the extra money to help people who might not have enough to eat, such as people at the Walla Walla Farm Labor Homes where Anderson had been volunteering to fulfill a class service-learning assignment.

McCandless suggested they meet with Phil Levine, executive chef with Sodexho Food Services at wwc. They asked Levine if they could post sign-up sheets for students who wanted to use their remaining money to buy food for residents of the Farm Labor Homes. He was very supportive and even arranged for Sodexho to donate $150 worth of dry goods, such as pastas and beans. The Sodexho Foundation has a program that supports innovative programs that fight hunger in the United States. The foundation encourages and supports their employees’ service toward hunger-related initiatives in their local communities.

Anderson and McCandless quickly made and posted sign-up sheets in the dorms and cafeteria. They had raised about $500 with less than 24 hours notice, when another student approached them, asked if he was too late, and donated another $100. Nine people donated their remaining cafeteria account balances.

Anderson and McCandless bought fruits and vegetables, oatmeal, and 25-pound bags of rice and beans, among other food supplies. They divided the food into portions for each of the 120 families at the Farm Labor Homes.

The Spanish Club was visiting the Farm Labor Homes that Sabbath, Dec. 13, to deliver donated toys, and Anderson and McCandless arranged to go with them to distribute the food at the same time.

“We were really excited about it,” says Anderson, “because people always have so much money left on their accounts. A lot of people, to meet their minimum, buy things they wouldn’t really need or want. We thought this would be a really good way to use that money and help people who really need it.”

They plan for the food drive to be a quarterly event and will provide more advance notice for students who wish to participate. W

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