Culinary Services hosted event to boost food pantry donations, raise awareness

Culinary Services hosted a food drive at the Baker University Center Parking Lot on Friday, Oct. 16, which was World Food Day. 

The goal of the food drive was to learn more about food insecurity at OHIO by donating food to the Cats’ Cupboard food pantry, create a sense of belonging, promote well-being, contribute to a team effort, and create competition and camaraderie amongst the members of the Culinary Services team.

Three teams competed: Central Food Facility/Main Office, Residential Dining and Retail Operations, which includes Baker University Center, Cafes and Campus Markets.  

There were 138 participants from Culinary Services who contributed to the food drive and donated a total of 424 items. In addition, the American Veteran Riders donated 180 items, bringing the total up to 604 items. 

Donation items were assigned point values based upon Cats’ Cupboard needs, and the team with the most points won. The winner was calculated based on donations per capita. A bit of friendly competition coupled with education on how the OHIO community can contribute to students’ basic needs led to a successful food drive, and hopefully continued support from the participants in the future. 

Food drive winners:

1^st place: CFF/Main Office with 6.63 points

2^nd place: Retail with 6.54 points

3^rd place: Residential dining with 6.53 points

Learn more about the Cats’ Cupboard.