Food Drive Goal Surpassed by Nearly 10,000 Pounds

The University of Findlay and Sodexo’s 11^th annual Helping Hands Food Drive exceeded its collection goal by nearly 10,000 pounds and set a new school record, organizers announced today.
A total of 74,446 pounds of food was collected during the one-day event held Wednesday, exceeding this year’s 65,000-pound target. Thirty four pallets necessitated two semis for delivery to Findlay’s CHOPIN Hall food pantry; Garner Transportation Group donated trucks and drivers.
“I just can’t imagine how that amount of food was collected in one day,” said Marty Price, CHOPIN Hall’s director. She called it “phenomenal” and noted “the number of people that this food is going to help in our community is tremendous. Thank you to everyone who volunteered and donated to help make this possible.”
“This is amazing! Thank you to everybody for this amount,” said David P. Harr, general manager of Sodexo dining services at UF who takes the lead in organizing each year’s Helping Hands food drive.
Price said prior to the truck deliveries, the pantry was down to one and a half food pallets.
Throughout Wednesday, donations were collected on campus and at Findlay’s two Kroger and Walmart locations, and at Great Scot on Broad Avenue. Harr said the warm, sunny day helped; he recalled it snowed during some previous drives.
Other facts about this year’s event:

• Since 2008, UF has led the nation every year in most pounds collected by a Sodexo-served university.
• During its first participation year in 2006, UF and Sodexo collected 994 pounds.
• A total of 188 people volunteered more than 430 hours of their time to make the event a success.
• This year’s most needed item, peanut butter, arrived in 7,724 containers of various sizes
• Total pounds collected and donated by Sodexo and UF to date are 394,902

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