Campus food drive starts Wednesday

UNMC, The Nebraska Medical Center, UNMC Physicians, Clarkson College and Private Practice Associates have once again joined together to collect food and household items to donate to the Omaha Food Bank.

Game on! You may remember that last year, the crew up here in public relations challenged the rest of the campus to beat us in our quest to collect 10 bags of food. Well, as it turned out, we did collect 10 bags of food, and many departments did beat our total. But we’re coming back stronger this year with plans to collect 12 bags of food. And yes, we challenge the rest of the campus to beat us. If your department fills more than 12 paper bags, send an e-mail to today@unmc.edu with your department’s donation total and we’ll mention it in UNMC Today.

A campus food drive starts Wednesday and runs until Nov. 18. Blue barrels will be placed around each campus for food and household items to be dropped off. Departments also may fill up bags or boxes that can be taken to a drop off location once full. (View a complete list of campus food drop-off sites.)

Suzanne Watson, co-organizer of the Food Drive, said the Nurses Week Committee wants the campus to exceed the amount collected during last year’s inaugural drive, which netted 23,467 pounds of food, or nearly 11 tons.

“Last year we exceeded our expectations,” said Watson, a co-chair of the Nurses Week Committee. “The Food Bank feels they need our help more than ever. There are 53,000 people in Douglas County who live below the poverty line and 16,800 of them are children. Many of them do not know how they are going to feed their families day to day.

“This is some way we all can make a difference in someone’s life.”

Ken Poncelow, director of Food Sourcing at the Omaha Food Bank, said the need for assistance from the food bank has increased 30 to 35 percent.

“We need you now more than ever,” Poncelow stressed during a recent meeting on campus.

Some of the items the food bank needs are:

• Canned meats such as tuna, chicken or ham;
  
• Canned pasta;
  
• Canned, evaporated or powered milk;
  
• Canned fruits and vegetables;
  
• Dry beans;
  
• Rice;
  
• “Helper” products such as hamburger and tuna helper;
  
• Pasta and sauce;
  
• Peanut butter and jelly;
  
• Baking products such as flour and sugar;
  
• Ketchup;
  
• Mustard;
  
• Diapers;
  
• Shampoo;
  
• Toilet paper; and
  
• Laundry supplies and soap.