News Archives - 2012

$1 = $4 = $8 for the FoodLess FoodDrive

Food drives generally mean big, bulky barrels of cereal and macaroni and cheese. Donors pull some canned goods out of the back of their pantry, or they pick up a few extra items on their next trip to the grocery store.

But is that really the best way to help restock a food shelf? Maybe not.

Instead of cleaning out your kitchen cupboards, give the $20 you'd spend in a week on coffee and bagels to the FoodLess FoodDrive. The Augsburg College Thrivent Fellows are sponsoring the food drive in the month of March to provide three months worth of food for the Brian Coyle Community Center food shelf.

Masha Shatanova '13, an economics and business major, is one of the Thrivent Fellows working with the FoodLess FoodDrive. She first became interested in the Brian Coyle food shelf through her work with Augsburg's interfaith scholars program. She hopes the FoodLess drive will be successful because of its impact on the community. "Usually you bring food to a food shelf and it might be something they don't really need," she said. "It's better to give them money because they can buy healthy food that people in their area want to eat."

Using commodity programs and bulk buying power, money in the food shelf's hand is worth four times as our money spent in the grocery store. Not only do cash donations allow for the purchase of more food, they also enable the staff to purchase food that is used by residents of the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. In addition, the Thrivent Fellows will match each dollar raised with one dollar, turning a donated dollar into $8 worth of food.

Donations can be made in envelopes which were previously distributed through campus mail (checks made to the Brian Coyle Food Shelf) or by dropping off at the Sabo Center (CB 108). Call 612-330-1624 with questions.