UC San Diego Combats Hunger with College Food Drive

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University of California, San Diego students, staff and faculty are doing their part to help prepare families in need for the holidays with the Tritons Rock Hunger food drive Oct. 5–28.  The drive is part of a countywide Colleges Rock Hunger contest, hosted by the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego. Food and dollars raised through the contest will make up the first official donation to the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank’s 2012 Holiday Food Drive.

Approximately 73,000 college students from UC San Diego, California State University San Marcos, San Diego State University and Point Loma Nazarene University are participating in the Colleges Rock Hunger contest.

“Every pound of food and every dollar counts,” said Food Bank vice president, Chris Carter. “Hundreds of thousands face the threat of hunger in San Diego County every day.”

Carter added that today nearly four million Californians are hungry or live in fear of hunger.

To help combat hunger in San Diego County, UC San Diego faculty, students and staff are encouraged to drop off non-perishable food items at the more than 30 red bins located throughout UC San Diego’s campus. The campus community can also make monetary donations to the virtual food drive online.

“A $1 donation is equivalent to three meals for a needy San Diego family,” said Mark Cunningham, assistant vice chancellor of Housing and Dining at UC San Diego. “This is a great opportunity for each of us to showcase the compassion of the UC San Diego community.”

Donated food items can include canned meats, vegetables, fruits and soups, as well as peanut butter, powdered milk, baby formula, packaged nuts and seeds, and dried pasta.

Last year, the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank handed out 17.9 million pounds of food.

For more information on the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank, go to www.sandiegofoodbank.org

For more information on the Colleges Rock Hunger contest, including the locations of the drop-off bins at UC San Diego, go to hdh.ucsd.edu/crh.