Spuds save the day

Russet potatoes and good will were afoot at West Campus the morning of Nov. 21, where hundreds of volunteers, comprised of not only GCSU students, but also members of the surrounding high schools, residential communities and even Girl Scout troops came out to help in this year’s annual Potato Drop.

“It’s very much a community event,” said Tiffany Cannon, who has been with the GIVE Center at GCSU for over five years. GCSU’s GIVE Center played a central role in the event, with RSA helping mainly through promotion, via their “Thundercup” campaign.

Put simply, the drop breaks down into a three-part system. The process begins with a fully loaded semi-truck of potatoes, the truck must then be unloaded – no easy task, but one that has been recently made a great deal more manageable.

“It’s just in the past two years that the potatoes have come pre-bagged, as opposed to a dump truck full of potatoes, which had to be bagged. This is making the unloading much faster and cleaner,” Cannon said.

The potatoes are donated from a variety of sources, ranging from local farms to supermarkets.

Great tendrils of helping hands snaked out from the back of the semi-truck, ferrying tubers away from the vessel via four to six colossal assembly lines, which remained in constant motion. A DJ provided a medley of beats sure to get the starch moving. Once through this winding path of arms and smiles, the Solanum tuberosum (Russet potatoes) were deposited in marked parking spots by the 50 count, 500 pounds of potato flesh.

This monumental task being done, it was time for the next stage of the drop. Trucks from all over the area arrived in droves to pick up a parking spots worth of potatoes. The trucks came on behalf of churches and charities in the tricounty area and the potatoes, from there, went directly to families in need all over Middle Georgia through these organizations.

“I love volunteering,” said Kaitlyn Mullins, who along with numerous other GCSU students rose early to answer the call to benefaction. Mullins’ response was a common one amongst the masses, who seemed to be less concerned with the bitter cold or the warm beds they abandoned and more so focused on the task and goal at hand.

“I just look at it like this: What else do I have to do that would be a better use of my time? Why not use this time to help people instead of sleep?” said Merry Nelson, who was one of the many residential assistants who were required to come out and lend a hand. However, for whatever reasons the volunteers came out, the resulting shuffling of the russets was a resounding success due entirely to their benevolence.

Amongst all of the motion, laughter and starch, which jetted seamlessly down the merry assembly lines, Kendall Stiles, director of the GIVE Center, could be found in a constant state of hustle and bustle. The director spent a busy morning cycling through all stages of the productions, lending experience earned, know-how and encouragement all around. The potato drop is one of GCSU’s most successful and beneficial outreach programs, and with such tremendous community reception, student input and spectacular management, it’s not hard to see why. A spud well moved.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Dec 4 2009. 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