Gurinder Ghumaan, a second-year Business Administration student, with donations bins set up at the Walker Sports Complex welcome desk for the on-campus food drive taking place this week.Brock support staff are asking the University community to add a few extra items to their grocery list this week to benefit people in need.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), which represents support staff from across the University, has teamed up with Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold for two charitable campaigns: ‘Help Us Fill a Truck’ and ‘Help Us Feed 100 Families.’
With the goal of filling a transport truck with food donations, the OSSTF is hosting an on-campus food drive from Monday, June 20 to Friday June 24.
Liz Keenan, English Department Administrative Assistant and Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation Secretary, is flanked by student volunteers Hind Belgued (left) and Madiha Mariam Ahmed in the Campus Store, where food drive donation bins have been set up.
Non-perishable food items can be dropped off in bins in the James A. Gibson Library, Brock Campus Store, Brock Central @ the Registrar’s Office, Shipping and Receiving, and the welcome desks in the Walker Sports Complex and Roy and Lois Cairns Health and Bioscience Research Complex.
Donations collected throughout the week will be delivered to the Pen Centre Zehrs on Saturday, June 25, where the OSSTF will be hosting an on-site food drive and filling the truck from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Community Care’s most-needed items include:
- canned goods such as pasta, vegetables, fruit, soup, pasta sauce, brown beans, tuna, ham, chicken and salmon.
- pudding and apple sauce cups
- juice boxes
- granola bars
Meanwhile, the OSSTF is collecting monetary donations online for the cause through the ‘Help Us Feed 100 Families’ campaign. The initiative aims to raise $16,050 — the average daily cost of the roughly 5,000 pounds of food Community Care provides to Niagara families each day. All funds will be used to purchase food for families in need, and tax receipts will be provided.
Members of the Brock community can support either campaign by making a non-perishable food or monetary donation; volunteering as part of the food drive; or participating in the campaigns by raising awareness among friends, family and colleagues through email, social media and word of mouth.
For more information, email Wanda Gilmore at wgilmore@brocku.ca
