2008 Woodie Awards
Students organize local food drive
By Rachel Seeman
Issue date: 3/4/05 Section: News
Today, a group of Slippery Rock University students conclude a weeklong campus-wide food drive.
The theme of the drive is "An Item a Day Keeps Hunger Away" and the goods collected will be sent to the Feed My Sheep Food Shelter.
The Feed My Sheep Food Shelter is located in Slippery Rock and distributes food to more than 300 people in the area.
Thomas Gordon, an elementary education and early childhood professor at SRU, teaches the social cultural studies in early childhood education class that runs this drive for a service-learning project.
Gordon said the project is important because the number of people going hungry in the United States is increasing.
"The number of poor families are growing in this country," Gordon said. "Fifty percent of the people in this country that are hungry are children."
Gordon said sometimes people become reliant on shelters for food because they lose a job or become ill.
The students in Gordon's class are juniors and seniors from the College of Education.
"I think it's important because there are a lot of people out there that don't get to eat," Chelsey Heilman-Houser, a student in Gordon's class, said.
Donation bins for non-perishable goods were set in McKay Education Building and Dinger Special Education Building.
This week's food drive is the second that Gordon has been involved with this year. A drive was held in November of this academic year to help the Feed My Sheep Food Shelter distribute food to families in need during the holiday season.
About 160 local Slippery Rock families are assisted in getting food during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. These families are considered part of the working poor class; they work full-time and still struggle to provide.
Gordon said it is nice to see how many people in the SRU community are willing to help this cause.
"It is heartening to see a lot of retired Slippery Rock professors volunteering to stock shelves and deliver food," he said.
The food drive is held once each semester, but Gordon said food donations are welcome any time throughout the year.
Non-perishable items that are needed include: peanut butter, pasta, canned/powered milk, other canned foods, rice, cereal, diapers, cleaning supplies, detergents and toiletries.
Goods may be dropped off in the elementary education office.
The theme of the drive is "An Item a Day Keeps Hunger Away" and the goods collected will be sent to the Feed My Sheep Food Shelter.
The Feed My Sheep Food Shelter is located in Slippery Rock and distributes food to more than 300 people in the area.
Thomas Gordon, an elementary education and early childhood professor at SRU, teaches the social cultural studies in early childhood education class that runs this drive for a service-learning project.
Gordon said the project is important because the number of people going hungry in the United States is increasing.
"The number of poor families are growing in this country," Gordon said. "Fifty percent of the people in this country that are hungry are children."
Gordon said sometimes people become reliant on shelters for food because they lose a job or become ill.
The students in Gordon's class are juniors and seniors from the College of Education.
"I think it's important because there are a lot of people out there that don't get to eat," Chelsey Heilman-Houser, a student in Gordon's class, said.
Donation bins for non-perishable goods were set in McKay Education Building and Dinger Special Education Building.
This week's food drive is the second that Gordon has been involved with this year. A drive was held in November of this academic year to help the Feed My Sheep Food Shelter distribute food to families in need during the holiday season.
About 160 local Slippery Rock families are assisted in getting food during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. These families are considered part of the working poor class; they work full-time and still struggle to provide.
Gordon said it is nice to see how many people in the SRU community are willing to help this cause.
"It is heartening to see a lot of retired Slippery Rock professors volunteering to stock shelves and deliver food," he said.
The food drive is held once each semester, but Gordon said food donations are welcome any time throughout the year.
Non-perishable items that are needed include: peanut butter, pasta, canned/powered milk, other canned foods, rice, cereal, diapers, cleaning supplies, detergents and toiletries.
Goods may be dropped off in the elementary education office.
