by Xypher Pino

One of five mandatory events that Greensboro College must host for the 2023 N.C. Hunger Challenge is a food drive at a nearby partnered Food Lion store. All the goods that a school collects during this single-day event will go towards stocking their respective pantries and will also be counted towards points for the challenge. On November 4, the Pride Pantry team, the group leading the N.C. Hunger Challenge for GC, hosted their Food Lion store food drive at 1911 Coliseum Dr from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and it was very successful.  

“I thought we were going to collect, at most, 300 or 400 items during this food drive. We were going to be really happy with that number and we thought that would give us a good shot at winning the competition. Our total from this past event was over 800 items, way more than I expected! I was pleasantly surprised when we tallied up everything and we got to that number,” said Tyler Smith, GC’s community service coordinator and part of the Pride Pantry team. It is very impressive that the Pride Pantry received so much support for two reasons: one, the food drive was an off-campus event, making it harder for some students, staff and faculty to donate; two, according to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Spartan Open Pantry, the particular Food Lion store that the food drive occurred at did not have receive high foot traffic nor had high donation rates in comparison to other Food Lion stores.  

A remarkable total of 846 products were collected during this food drive. Non-perishable meals such as canned beef, canned vegetable soup and canned sausages were donated; there were tons of quick-to-prepare items such as mac and cheese boxes, minute rice and ramen; things that could easily be put in combination with a different meal were given such as canned corn, tomato soup and pasta; lots of snacks such as granola bars and gummies were also donated.   

Food products were not the only things that were donated during the food drive – hygiene products such as toothpastes, toothbrushes and deodorants were collected, which is helpful as the Pride Pantry also supplies these products to its users. Some simply donated cash and gift cards which the Pride Pantry team used at the Food Lion store to buy more non-perishable food.  

Advertising this event was the most crucial part of this food drive. When asked about the preparation required for this event, Smith said, “I am incredibly proud of our student workers and their efforts to plan and work this event. They put in a lot of effort in making sure this collection went as well as it did.” To promote this food drive, the Pride Pantry’s Instagram account went ballistic a week or two before the actual collection date, posting tons of creative and unique flyers. Staff and faculty also reported seeing multiple flyers under their office door as they entered and some stated to personally receive them from students working with the Pride Pantry.  

Speaking of staff and faculty, the Pride Pantry team dubbed this food drive as a competition amongst staff and faculty. The department that came out on top and donated the most non-perishable items received a medal that had the Pride Pantry logo on it. This was a brilliant strategy as it incentivized departments to work with one another to possibly win the competition, increasing the likelihood of more donations to be received. Elaine Kitchell and the Conference and Events department won this mini competition with a total donation of 87 items, an impressive feat. The Student Retention and Success department came in second, led by Warche Downing and Katrina O’Neill donating 26 items, while the Religion, Ethics and Philosophy department came in third with Dr. Henry Kuo’s donation of ten items. In the end, every staff and faculty member who donated received a medal, as the Pride Pantry thought it was necessary to thank everyone for taking time out of their weekend to donate to the cause.  

The Food Lion store food drive was a massive success. As Smith pointed out, “The support we received Saturday will help provide the Pride Pantry with stability and resources for GC students in need for a long time.” Without a doubt, what the Pride Pantry team accomplished that day will go a long way in ending hunger insecurity in GC. The Pride Pantry team has done a terrific job with the N.C. Hunger Challenge so far – let us give them all our support as they finish the semester strong!