USU Students Collect 4,000 Items for Local Hungry and Homeless
Alpha Tau Omega and Alpha Chi Omega volunteers collected non-perishable food items in front of Lee's Marketplace in Logan.
Utah State University’s Center for Civic Engagement and Service-Learning and the USU Greek Council recently partnered to raise funds and supplies through a donation drive to benefit the Ogden’s Lantern House Homeless Shelter and Soup Kitchen. Students from both the service center and Greek clubs asked community members to donate money and food at five local grocery stores from Monday, Feb. 29, through Wednesday, Mar. 2. Lee’s Marketplace in Smithfield and Logan, North Logan Walmart, Walmart and Smith’s in Logan and Macey’s in Providence contributed space for the project.
USU students Becca Huppi and Hannah Pendergast organized the event as the Utah Campus Compact Student Advisory Council’s spring service initiative. Huppi and Pendergast chose the Lantern House in Ogden due to concern about the lack of resources for the homeless in Cache Valley.
“Currently Cache Valley has no homeless shelter and many of these individuals find themselves seeking out the resources in Ogden,” said Huppi.
The Lantern House recently scaled up to a larger facility to meet the needs of the hungry and homeless in both the Cache Valley and Ogden area.
The three-day event involved 250 volunteers, including students from all 10 Greek organizations. Community members donated 4,000 non-perishable food and personal items, enough to fill a 15-foot U-Haul trailer, as well as $897.63.
“So much was given by the community that not all of it could be handled by Lantern House,” said Huppi.
A third of the donations, weighing 1,850 lbs., was taken to the Cache Community Food Pantry.
According to Stacy Gallegos, volunteer coordinator for the Lantern House, they anticipate increasing the number of meals served from 78,000 to 100,000 this year and must rely on donations to do so.
The Utah Campus Compact Student Advisory Council links and supports Utah’s colleges and universities in promoting civic engagement and preparing students for responsible citizenship. Utah Campus Compact Student Advisory Councils chose hunger and homelessness awareness and alleviation as the service theme for the 2015-16 year.
Contact: Becca Huppi, outreach chair, USU’s Center for Civic Engagement and Service-Learning, 435-770-5896, beccahuppi@gmail.com
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