On campus, problems of hunger and food insecurity are often prevalent and seldom addressed. One UW student and a host of volunteers sought to combat these problems with a Halloween-centered food drive on Saturday called The Spooky Sprint Food Drive.
“This campus talks quite a bit about food security, and yet, it seems many do not think of college students as individuals who would suffer from food insecurity,” Christine Mock, a first-year graduate student in Sociology that helped organize the event, said.
The food drive was a function of UW’s Service, Leadership and Community Engagement office (SLCE), which has already organized events on campus this year.
Coming on the heels of SLCE’s Big Event, Saturday’s Fourth Annual Spooky Sprint Food Drive was designed to fight issues like food insecurity in a festive fashion. Participants went out with Halloween costumes and shopping carts in an attempt to gather food for the Laramie Soup Kitchen.
The event also sought to increase student involvement in the community.
“Our hope for this event and others put on by the SLCE office is to unite volunteers with university organizations to benefit the surrounding community,” Mock said. “It is a good way to say thank you to our town and bridge gaps between residents and students.”
With a foundational goal of mobilizing resources, events like this rely heavily on the efforts of volunteers.
“We do our best to organize man power,” Mock said. “This event is usually small but seems to be pretty influential upon the community members we come in contact with.”
Beginning over a week ago, various SLCE staff members canvassed a six-block area North to South and from 15th Street to 7th street. Community members within these visited areas were asked to place donated food items in bags provided by SLCE.
“We had people walking around tying bags with handbills on them to explain the event to community members,” Mock said. “We generally have quite a bit of community involvement. It is relatively low maintenance for them because all they need to do is place their bags with food on their porch or curb for us to pick up between 10 and 12 p.m.”
Ethan Atwood, SLCE marketing coordinator and UW student, was a member of the coordinating team for this year and explained his volunteer experience from last year.
“This event is not your typical food drive,” Atwood said. “It not only allows for students to give back, it is also really fun. I participated last year with the Student Activity Council. It was great to dress up with my friends and travel down the streets of Laramie with shopping carts.”
Atwood explained that the experience of meeting event participants was especially rewarding
“We got the opportunity to meet some of the community members who were donating and that was great to see the support,” Atwood said.
The SLCE office hopes by providing organizations, like the Laramie Soup Kitchen, with much needed donations, local food insecurity and other relevant issues can be remedied and improve student and community member lifestyles.
“We enjoy seeing the community benefitted,” Mock said. “It is good to see that when people understand the university is involved our efforts are met with positive attitudes. This reassures us that the community understands we at the university care about giving back.”
