More people are struggling to put food on the table, and soup kitchens and food banks are stretched to the point of breaking.
Lambda Chi Alpha is working hard to make sure that does not happen. Every year, LCA works with the North American Food Drive to collect food and assist families in need. Last year, through its yearly food drive, LCA was able to gather about 6,000 pounds of food, all of which was donated to help families in need, LCA’s Philanthropy chairman Dany Magana said.
Magana said LCA has been able to collect more food in the past. Because the drive has not received much recognition, the amount it has been able to collect has gone down. “Maybe if more people knew about it, we’d be able to collect more,” Magana said.
This year, 5,000 pounds of food was collected in Laramie and then donated to the local soup kitchen and the Laramie Interfaith-Good Samaritan. IGS typically serves 3,500 to 4,500 people each month, and the food donated by LCA will last IGS about three weeks, Executive Director Tom Martin said.
The Fraternity members collected another 1,000 pounds in Cheyenne and delivered it to Interfaith Family Support Services. IFSS works with about a dozen churches in the Cheyenne area to house homeless families overnight and provide them with a hot meal, Lori Kempter, Interfaith support services coordinator, said. IFSS is a United Way-funded program.
This is the second year that LCA did a food drive in Cheyenne. With the food that LCA donates, Kempter said they are able to help people for a longer period of time and it allows IFSS to give a little food to some families to help get them by.
“We deliver grocery bags with fliers to people’s houses,” Magana said. People just pull donation items out of their cupboards and throw it in the bag and LCA drives around and picks up the bags.
LCA was founded in 1909 by Warren A. Cole while he was a student at Boston University. Today, it is one of the largest men’s fraternities in the United States.
LCA brotherhood is based on seven core values. One of those principles is service and stewardship. The men of LCA volunteer wherever and whenever they are asked to help. The food drive is their main philanthropy effort each year, and it kicks off on Nov. 1, just in time for the holidays, Magana said.
Other volunteer efforts LCA is involved in include Relay for Life, fixing up the Wyo Theater and helping out at the soup kitchen.
Anyone interested in donating for the next food drive can contact Magana at dmagana@uwyo.edu.
Lambda Chi Alpha is gearing up for its annual food drive that launches November 1. During the last drive the fraternity collected about 6,000 pounds of food — 5,000 pounds in Laramie and 1,000 pounds in Cheyenne. The food collected in Laramie was donated to the soup kitchen and Interfaith-Good Samaritan. In Cheyenne, the food went to Interfaith Family Support Services.
