College of Forestry Wins "Top Banana" Award for 12th Consecutive Year; OSU Food Drive Surpasses Goal with 635,845 Pounds of Food

For the 12th consecutive year, the College of Forestry will receive OSU's "Top Banana" Award on Wednesday, after collecting 56,962.05 pounds of food for Linn Benton Food Share.  It was close.  The Foundation, with only 114 employees to our 174 CoF employees, collected 52,375.70 pounds of food.

Next year will be a challenge -- but it's all GREAT news for Linn Benton Food Share!

The OSU Food Drive goal this year was to collect a campus-wide total of 580,000 pounds of food, an amount exceeded by more than 55,000 with a final total of 635,845 pounds of food.

Special thanks go out to the CoF Food Drive Planning Committee and everyone else who either pitched in or donated generously to help make this year's Food Drive another outstanding success.

Here are the official 2012 OSU Food Drive Results.

A HUGE "THANK YOU"!

Your last-minute efforts brought us to within $198 of last year's record total! 

Here are your 2012 College of Forestry Food Drive totals: 

Event Totals:                                 $   5,874.91
Payroll Contributions:                    $   5,508.00
Total:                                             $ 11,382.91

$11,382.91 = 56,915 lbs. of food, or 34,149 meals!

WEEK FIVE RESULTS:  $2,173.46

     February 28 Dessert Bake-off:   $   144.96
     February 29 Soup Lunch:           $  182.50*
     (*with IFSA keeping $182.50)
     February Quilt Raffle Sales:       $   440.00
     Individual Donations:                $1,406.00 

WEEK FOUR RESULTS:  $867.22

     February 13-17 Book Sale:  $447.62
     February 22 Soup Lunch:     $419.60
 

WEEK THREE RESULTS:  $1,079.50

     February 14 Silent Auction:  $578.50
     February 15 Soup Lunch:     $501.00

WEEK TWO RESULTS:  $966.00

     February 8 Soup Lunch:  $491.00
     Individual Donations (3):    $475.00

WEEK ONE RESULTS:  $788.73

     January 31 Bake Sale:      $374.43
     February 1 Soup Lunch:    $414.30

CoF Food Drive events
Real-time comparison of donations turned in at the Motor Pool
OSU Food Drive
Linn Benton Food Share

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SNAP = $21/Week for Food – Could You Do it?  (or why the CoF Food Drive is so important)

SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or what used to be called food stamps.  If you’re a SNAP participant, you receive $21 per week to spend on groceries, or $1/meal.

Could you do it?  Could you go a week spending only $21 on food?  

It’s a challenge OSU Students in Free Enterprise (OSUSIFE) voluntarily took on last fall. 

OSUSIFE Team Executive Council member Natasha Badaa made the mistake of heading for the grocery store without a list, without planning out a menu, and without researching ideas for inexpensive foods and meals.“Although we were able to breeze through WinCo buying food and keeping under budget it was not until early in the challenge that I realized how wrong my shopping attempt was. I did not buy enough food. I did not buy enough satisfying food. I did not buy enough healthful food. And I did not take into account the essentials like coffee which ended up costing me exponentially in physical, mental, and emotional distress.” 

The experience taught her empathy and confirmed her desire “to do more to help those in poverty even more.” 

You can read more about Natasha’s and other student experiences with the SNAP Challenge and other activities at http://oregonstate.edu/groups/sife/.  In addition, SNAP Challenge videos are available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LmvuADvLoqk.

You too can choose to take the SNAP Challenge and see how it feels to only have $21/week to spend on food, or you can simply choose to help those who live the SNAP Challenge by participating in the many CoF Food Drive events scheduled during the Food Drive month of February! 

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TOP BANANA!

Last year the College of Forestry donated 57,901.25 pounds of food to Linn Benton Food Share, the result of collecting $5331 in payroll deductions, $6234.65 from the February Calendar of Events, and 73 lbs. of non-perishable food.  Each dollar collected translates to five pounds of food.

These amazing results earned us the OSU Food Drive's "Top Banana" award for the 11th consecutive year and our 2012 goal is to collect at least as much money/food, if not more -- and have fun doing it!

Check back throughout the Food Drive month of February for ongoing results.