Food drive will help food bank, local farmers
Money raised will go toward providing food for the Central Missouri Food Bank.
Published Oct. 16, 2007
Sustain Mizzou volunteers dressed up as apples, peapods and eggs this past week for a good cause.
Last Monday through Friday, the student environmental awareness group, Sustain Mizzou, put on its fourth annual Local Food Drive. But Sustain Mizzou organizes this food drive a little differently than most.
Dressed as food items, they asked students to donate money instead of cans.
"The main goal was to raise money to buy food from local farmers to give to the Central Missouri Food Bank," Sustain Mizzou President Ben Datema said.
From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day throughout the week, fundraiser volunteers wearing costumes staffed tables near Brady Commons and outside of Memorial Union and collected spare change from passing students.
Datema dressed up as a peapod for most of the week.
"It is always fun," he said. "The costumes help market the local food drive because students see people dressed up and dancing and want to come check it out."
Some people went to class and to the Columbia Farmers' Market in their costumes trying to promote the food drive, Woods said.
The idea comes from the need for fresh food for people in poverty, Food Drive chairwoman Angela Woods said.
The food items that Sustain Mizzou purchases are selected for their high nutritional value and their capability to be consumed with minimal
preparation.
The food drive serves three main purposes, Woods said.
First, it supports the Central Missouri Food Bank and people in poverty by providing them with fresh, nutrient-dense fruits, vegetables and eggs.
In a sample of Central Missouri Food Bank clients, 75.3 percent eat fresh fruits or vegetables less than six times a week. The drive is fairly important to the food bank because they typically don't get fresh food, Woods said.
Second, it helps support local farmers and the local economy. During the past 70 years, the number of farms in Missouri has dropped from 275,000 to 105,000, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture study.
Third, it benefits the environment by reducing emissions and gas usages because the average piece of food travels between 1,500 and 2,000 miles before it is consumed, whereas all of the food donated by Sustain Mizzou travels 50 miles or less before consumption, Woods said.
The food drive brought in $2,572.23 for the week with $826.43 of that coming from Friday alone, Woods said.
Members of Sustain Mizzou will go to the Columbia Farmers' Market to buy the fresh food and then deliver it to the food bank. The group spends the money in segments so that the food bank doesn't get a huge order just once a year, group member Noelle Daly said.
Sustain Mizzou partnered with other MU student groups to put on the event. The other groups included Agricultural Systems Management Club, Circle K International, College Democrats, Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences, MU Environmental Studies Initiative, Missouri Students Association and Rural Sociology Graduate Student Association.