The student advocacy center provides food items for students and staff in need.
By Tania Flores
File
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
The center for civic engagement is sponsoring a Thanksgiving harvest food drive box-decorating contest.
The organization is preparing for the food drive by having a pizza party and box-decorating contest noon- 1 p.m. Oct. 23 in the Fiesta Room of Loftin Center.
Five boxes will be available for participants to decorate.
The boxes will be used to collect items for the food drive Nov. 1-22.
Food items collected from the food drive will be donated to the student advocacy center.
One contest winner will be selected during the event and will receive a goodie bag with college promotional items.
“Our goal is to make students aware of the reality of hunger, poverty and homelessness within our campus and as a whole,” Joseph Liedecke, coordinator of student success, said.
“Little do students know they may be sitting next to someone who couldn’t eat dinner last night or breakfast this morning because they couldn’t afford it,” he said.
“Food insecurity is a growing problem among college students trying to juggle rapidly rising tuition rates, high-priced textbooks and rent on limited resources.”
“Food insecurity covers a wide spectrum of students and includes 25 percent of community college students and 20 percent of those in four-year universities.”
“Many of them are not what we would consider traditional college students, those who enroll right out of high school and are supported by Mom and Dad,” according to mysanantonio.com.
Bianca Sapet, coordinator of student success, said providing service learning events like this, allows students to participate in civic engagement.”
She said food and entertainment create a relaxed environment. The opportunity is taken to educate students about community work, community organizing and social justice on this campus and out in the community.
For some students, participating in service learning events has made them learn about resources available for them or someone they know, Sapet said.
“Acts of charity are important. It’s not just about giving back while participating in this event. It’s about understanding where food scarcity comes from and what we can do about it,” Sapet said
Students and staff in need of food items can call the student advocacy center at 210-486-1003 or visit Room 323A of Chance Academic Center .
For more information about this event, contact Liedecke at 210-486-0137.
