Campus-Wide Food Drive Extended Until Today

A food drive organized by Aramark, Old Dominion University Parking Services and ODU's Center for Service and Civic Engagement has been extended until Monday, in part because of the success it has had collecting food and raising money for the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia.

The food drive was initially scheduled to run only four days, but it has not only been extended, it's been expanded, said Tami Park Farinholt, coordinator for community service with the Office of Student Activities and Leadership's Center for Service and Civic Engagement.

"It has been extended in the residence halls until this coming Monday," Farinholt said. "So far we have collected 762 pounds of food and $127 in cash."

Farinholt said smaller-scale food drives are done several times per year, but this is the first university-wide drive. The plan is to have such events twice a year, starting next school year.

The idea came from Aramark, the food service company that has a contract at the university. Farinholt said Janet McLaughlin, Aramark's resident district manager, heard about the success Virginia Commonwealth University had with its campus-wide food drive "and recognized the need in our own community and led the team in organizing this drive."

Farinholt said the lessons learned from this year's campus-wide food drive should make the drives next school year even more successful. "We learned some things that will really help it be more successful in the future, but the university community in general has really stepped up to the plate at the last minute."