News > February 21, 2008

By Lauren Dayton | Staff writer

The opportunity for a victory over Duke or Carolina is a rousing thought for Demon Deacon fans, and the Hoops for Hunger food drive is counting on that competitive spirit to help feed the hungry in Winston-Salem. For the past three years, the university has taken on UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State and Duke University in a food drive competition centered around the basketball season.

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Food bins for the donation drive for Hoops for Hunger are located in all the dorms, Benson 304 and the Benson food court. (Kelly Makepeace)

This year Eastern Carolina University and North Carolina Wesleyan are also participating.

Throughout the month of February, each school collects non-perishable goods and monetary donations at home basketball games, around campus and online.

Every dollar counts as five pounds of food. At the end of the month, the amount of donations (measured by weight) is tallied for each school and then divided by the size of the student body to determine the winner.

Last year the university won with the equivalent of 7,294 pounds or 1.13 pounds per student. Of those 7,294 pounds only 994 pounds were actually canned goods, the rest was the $1,260 equivalent of the weight.

Junior Alex Vaccaro is the chief of staff for Student Government and the chair of the university Hoops for Hunger committee.

“Hoops for Hunger is a great effort to get students and members of the community excited about basketball season in the month of February while also supporting a great cause,” Vaccaro said.

The program is headed by Coach Kay Yow, the women’s basketball coach at N.C. State in conjunction with the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina.

All of the university donations, however, are contributed directly to the Second Harvest Food Bank, a local organization in Winston-Salem.

It acts as a supplementary supplier of food for 380 different non-profit agencies and faith-based programs which distribute food throughout 10 counties in the area.

One of the goals of Hoops for Hunger is to unite college students and their surrounding communities to fight local hunger.

Student Government collected donations at the home men’s basketball games against Virginia and Duke.

Junior Celia Thacker, co-chair of the Student Government public relations committee and a member of the Hoops for Hunger Committee, agrees that the drive is a way for university students to connect with sports fans in support of a noble cause.

“Little old ladies bring their shopping bags with cans, kids ask their parents for a quarter to put in the bucket – it doesn’t seem like a lot, but it really adds up,” Thacker said.

All that spare change added up to $417 from the Virginia game and $1,239 from the Duke game.

Joel Coliseum also joined the effort by raffling off two season tickets to fans who contributed.

Every person who brought five goods or contributed $5 received a raffle ticket for the basketball games.

Student government collected food and monetary donations from students by doing door-to-door in the dorms.

SG will accept donations through Feb. 29, and drop-off boxes are stationed at different locations throughout the university campus. Drop-off boxes can be found in each of the dorms, Benson 304 and the Benson food court. Although all donations are welcome, the food is measured by weight, so “don’t buy ramen,” Thacker said.

Canned meals like beef stew or ravioli, peanut butter, canned fruits and vegetables are ideal for this cause because they are heavier.

Also, paper products and hygiene products like toothpaste and deodorant are nonfood items that are among the most needed items requested by the Food Bank.

The Second Harvest Food Bank also accepts monetary donations online.

The Web site can be found at www.hungernwnc.org/donate-food/hoops-for-hunger.html.