Spring Break
Club leaders wrap up weeklong food drive
Anne Morrison
Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: News
Sacramento State's Rotaract Club teamed up with about 40 different organizations on campus and in the community to try and break the world record for most cans collected, providing food for Sacramento's tent city.
Although the goal of 200 tons, or about 1 million cans depending on weight, of non-perishable food was not projected to be met by 6 p.m., the club has collected only 3,000 lbs. Senior business major Paul Dickey, who helped organize the event, was pleased with the turnout, regardless of the numbers.
Dickey, working with the Rotaract Club's president, senior business major Joseph Ross, put the campaign together in about three weeks.
Members of the community, including Karen Vidor from Loaves and Fishes and Noam Harel from the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region, spoke at a press conference this morning regarding the food drive.
Vidor expressed deep gratitude to the Rotaract Club for its efforts, mentioning the economic crisis and the new faces as well as old that she has seen around the hub for the homeless community's needs. She also addressed concerns regarding the national coverage of tent city, which has been around for 30 years.
"Newspapers from all over the world have been coming and asking us about tent city, and we've received zero dollars from anyone," Vidor said.
Among other donations, Whole Foods Markets contacted the Rotaract Club and donated a pallet of soup and water.
University President Alexander Gonzalez and Roberto Torres, Associated Students, Inc.'s executive vice president, spoke at the event.
Although the club did not meet the record, it still had to pay a $595 fee to be eligible to set the record.
Guinness World Records does not have a category for amount of collected canned food, but only for non-perishable food. A Canadian city set the record with 196 tons. The record that the club looked at was for biggest structure made out of canned food, which was set by Sacramento State's Big Sky Conference rival, Montana State University.
"The whole goal was to get food out to tent city and hopefully start a trend," said Joe Keller, senior philosophy major. "We are real people and we're trying to do a good thing."
"Especially with this campus and the whole commuter campus motif," added Terry Martin, senior government and economics major.
Anne Morrison can be reached at amorrison@statehornet.com.
Although the goal of 200 tons, or about 1 million cans depending on weight, of non-perishable food was not projected to be met by 6 p.m., the club has collected only 3,000 lbs. Senior business major Paul Dickey, who helped organize the event, was pleased with the turnout, regardless of the numbers.
Dickey, working with the Rotaract Club's president, senior business major Joseph Ross, put the campaign together in about three weeks.
Members of the community, including Karen Vidor from Loaves and Fishes and Noam Harel from the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region, spoke at a press conference this morning regarding the food drive.
Vidor expressed deep gratitude to the Rotaract Club for its efforts, mentioning the economic crisis and the new faces as well as old that she has seen around the hub for the homeless community's needs. She also addressed concerns regarding the national coverage of tent city, which has been around for 30 years.
"Newspapers from all over the world have been coming and asking us about tent city, and we've received zero dollars from anyone," Vidor said.
Among other donations, Whole Foods Markets contacted the Rotaract Club and donated a pallet of soup and water.
University President Alexander Gonzalez and Roberto Torres, Associated Students, Inc.'s executive vice president, spoke at the event.
Although the club did not meet the record, it still had to pay a $595 fee to be eligible to set the record.
Guinness World Records does not have a category for amount of collected canned food, but only for non-perishable food. A Canadian city set the record with 196 tons. The record that the club looked at was for biggest structure made out of canned food, which was set by Sacramento State's Big Sky Conference rival, Montana State University.
"The whole goal was to get food out to tent city and hopefully start a trend," said Joe Keller, senior philosophy major. "We are real people and we're trying to do a good thing."
"Especially with this campus and the whole commuter campus motif," added Terry Martin, senior government and economics major.
Anne Morrison can be reached at amorrison@statehornet.com.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 10
Terry Martin
posted 4/13/09 @ 9:01 AM PST
A lot of food was collected to help a lot of people. It was a great effort to be involved in.
Joe Student
posted 4/13/09 @ 9:12 PM PST
There was a We-Can food drive in December at the capitol that many community members were involved in as well as students. Off the record, they shattered the world record by donating 100,000 lbs of food for the hungry and homeless in Sacramento. (Continued…)
bintellectual
posted 5/09/09 @ 11:56 AM PST
Breaking the world was an afterthought. Unfortunately you don't see the strategy in the cause. People like challenges and notoriety, and the Guinness world record idea was an incentive for Sacramento communities to participate in the U-Can food drive as well as a challenge to other universities. (Continued…)
Tommy Bowen
posted 5/09/09 @ 1:07 PM PST
Joe Student,
With all respect, why do you attempt to denigrate a worth while cause?
The U-Can food drive helped many hungry people... Students and the Sacramento community worked hand and hand to make this possible. (Continued…)
Paul Dickey
posted 5/18/09 @ 1:40 PM PST
Tell us, what other food drives are centered around Easter Sunday? We spent the whole day delivering the food we collected to the homeless shelter on Sunday. (Continued…)
Andrew
posted 5/21/09 @ 1:32 AM PST
Most of us know U-Can was driven by vanity. It was a group of publicity-whore business students, driven by vanity and fame. But now U-Can is over, so let's please stop bringing up the fact that it failed. (Continued…)
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