The food, which included juice, cans of tuna, granola bars and chips, was collected through Sodexo/UofL Dining Services’ Helping Hands Across America food drive. Original estimates were that the collection had yielded 5,400 pounds of food. Dare to Care reported later than the estimate was off by more than 1,500 pounds.
Students, faculty and staff purchased bags to donate for $5 using cash, credit cards or meal plan dollars. Dare to Care will use the food in its effort to fight hunger in a 13-county area.
I think it’s an exemplary accomplishment, said Mitchell Payne, associate vice president for business affairs. Our community stepped forward and accomplished this together.
Dare to Care helps about 100,000 people each year, said Stan Siegwald, director of policy and planning for the organization.
This is a really fabulous gift, he said, watching as pallet after pallet of food was loaded on the Dare to Care trucks. This food is going to get to them so they have a chance to be healthy and have a good life.
UofL’s participation was part of a larger effort by Sodexo to set a new world record for largest food drive by a non-charitable organization in a 24-hour period. Each of the company’s divisions sold the same type of bags. The current world record is about 510,000 pounds, according to Sodexo’s website.
The Helping Hands food drive is one of the many initiatives the company participates in to fight hunger, said Matti Verder, Sodexo’s resident district manager.
The record is really secondary, Verder said. The main goal is to help this community.