November 22, 1999 Second Harvest food drive: Help 'fill the bus' By Karin Wanless This holiday season, Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties is asking the UCSC community to help "fill the bus" with donations of food. Second Harvest provides food to human service agencies and programs, which then distribute the goods to low-income seniors, people with AIDS, homeless people, single parents, abused women and children, disabled people, and individuals and families facing crisis situations. Bags with a list of the most-needed items will be sent to all campus mailboxes. Please fill your bag with suggested food items. Campus Mail Services has volunteered to collect the bags from December 6 to 10 and deliver them on December 10 to a bus provided by Santa Cruz Metro Transit. In addition, you can drop off your grocery bags at the base of campus from December 6 to 10 from 7:15 to 9:15 A.M. A Mail Services truck will be at the parking lot of the Granary Child Developement Center at the UCSC East Entrance. Cash donations will also be accepted. For every donated dollar, Second Harvest distributes more than $10 worth of food. Make your check out to Second Harvest food bank with a note stating "UCSC Food Drive." Send it via Campus Mail to UCSC Food Drive. Sigma Omicron Pi and Pi Alpha Phi will also be selling peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to help the Second Harvest food drive. Donate $1 or bring two canned goods and receive a sandwich and a carton of milk. Sorority and fraternity members will be at various sites around the campus from November 29 to December 1 from 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. Marriott has provided the food for free. The Greek organizations have helped out tremendously in other ways, too. They have collected four barrels of donated food at Safeway on Mission Street; they went door-to-door at campus apartments, asking for food that students won't be able to eat over the holiday break; and they stapled thousands of pamphlets onto the grocery bags that were mailed to staff and faculty. The major sponsors of the food drive are Coast Commercial Bank, Driscoll Strawberry Associates, Granite Construction Company, Lockheed Martin Corporation, SCO, Seagate Technology, and Plantronics Inc. For more information contact Sheila Gottehrer at (831) 459-4606 or Ronaldo Ramirez at (831) 459-5366. To find out more about how your contribution can make a difference visit Second Harvest's Web site: http://www.thefoodbank.org/ Return to Front Page