Cans Across America aims to break record

     The season of giving is drawing near, and GCSU campus dining services Sodexho is feeling the spirit as it, along with 600 other Sodexho campus-dining units across the United States, are attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the most nonperishable food collected in a 24-hour period.
     Sodexho fell short in last year’s attempt to break the record to Regina & District Food Bank in  Saskatchewan, Canada which collected 221,028.85 pounds.
     So far GCSU has done its part collecting 3,150 pounds of food on Nov. 7, in the MSU Dining Hall. This is 300 percent more than its goal of 750 pounds. As for the world record, the status is uncertain.
     “I don’t know the numbers yet for the record, but I hope we can get it,”  said Karen Ramirez GCSU Sodexho marketing coordinator.
     This is GCSU’s third year participating in the drive. Last year the school collected 750 pounds, which surpassed the year’s goal of 500 pounds.
     The food collected in the drive benefits Middle Georgia food banks that are part of the Second Harvest Organization. The Middle Georgia Community Food bank is a primary beneficiary.
     The secret to this year’s success was the help of The G.I.V.E. Center. Along with The G.I.V.E. Center GCSU used ads and reminders in student online announcements to promote the event around campus.
     Furthermore, GCSU used incentives this year to encourage support around the university. The incentives included a $200 catering event for the department that brought in the most cans and $200 wing party to the RSO that donated the most.
     The winner of the catering event was the J. Whitney Bunting School of Business and the wing party was awarded to Gamma Sigma Sigma.
     The school of Business, initially, was unaware of the fact that they had the opportunity to be the department who collected the most.
     “Lurline West (Director of Business Student & Community Services) set up a box visible to the department to collect cans, but it was not until Renee Fontenot (business professor) realized that we had a chance to win and if we collected a few more dollars around the department that we could do it,” Dean of the school of Business Faye Gilbert said.
     Fontenot was the main organizer and executor of the collection of cans around the department.
     “I brought in four cases of food in the morning and checked out the other contributors in the drive and saw we were in the running for the prize but were not in first,” Fontenot said. “I went around the department and solicited for donations. My daughter and I then took the money raised and went to various stores in Milledgeville to find the best value for our money and donated what we had to the drive.”
     Fontenot says it helped to make the contribution a team effort.
     “A lot of people are too busy to do it individually, but, if someone makes it a team effort, then it seems to become an easier task,” Fontenot said.
     The business school is excited to have won the contest but is more enthused about helping the community.
     “People in the school of business are always involved in helping the community and they jump at every opportunity to give back,” Gilbert said. “It is our culture here to be responsible citizens and I have never seen a group of faculty and students do it better.”
     The school of business this year has completed over 60 applied service projects in the Middle Georgia area and has accumulated over 4,400 hours in service learning. 
     As for the catering event the business school is unsure how they will use it.
     “I do not know exactly what we will do right now,” Gilbert said. “I just know it will be a celebration of some sort that will include the students.”
     GCSU already has plans for next year for how to increase the number even more.
     “Together with the help of Kendal Stiles and The G.I.V.E. Center we have already promised to raise our goal to 5,000 pounds,” Ramirez said. “We plan to start promoting the event in August and becoming more creative with incentives to motivate RSOs, because that is where the majority of the donations came from.”
     Now Sodexho looks forward to the spring when they will shift their efforts to raise money for Meals on Wheels with the help of Habitat for Humanity.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 16 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry