News > March 20, 2008

By Molly Nevola | Staff writer

The university recently won the Hoops for Hunger contest, a competition which pits rival schools against each other to raise food for local food banks.

The university’s second consecutive Hoops for Hunger Food Drive win, thanks to the donation of 15,186 pounds of food, the most pounds of food per capita, is a proud small-school victory.

The win reflects the university’s commitment to community outreach and efforts to feed the hungry of Winston-Salem.

In a contest between seven North Carolina schools – UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, North Carolina Central, N.C. State, East Carolina and North Carolina Wesleyan – university students donated $2,830 in cash equaling 14,150 pounds of food and brought in 1,036 pounds of food for the win.

According to project chair Alex Vaccaro, the drive utilized many angles of student and community life.

Committee members collected cans and money at two basketball games in February.

They also stormed the residence halls to collect student money and also asked parents and community members to make online donations.

Vaccaro said that she was extremely proud of the outcome.

The drive bought in more than double the amount raised last year, and she attributes its success to student efforts.

“This really shows that we are at a huge advantage as a small school,” Vaccaro said.

“We have the ability to get all of our students behind an effort and really support it,” she said.

In total, the seven schools collected an amount of food equivalent to 31,651 meals which will benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, located in Winston-Salem.

Senior committee member Bryan Keith helped with publicity for the event and money counting.

Keith said that the win was a great victory of which to be a part.

Being a consistent winner aids the image of Wake Forest in North Carolina as well as gives university students an opportunity to give back to the surrounding community Keith explained.

“It shows us as outreaching to other schools to give them the chance to compete, and more so that our community is part of a larger one that we do care about and care to be a part of as well,” Keith said.

Sophomore committee member Adam Smith said that the win was a perfect reward, especially after they heard that other ACC schools were going to try harder to capture the title this year.

According to Smith, the outcome showed that enrollment and school size are essentially of no consequence in how involved a school can be in the surrounding community.

“Even though Chapel Hill and Duke are considerably larger than we are, we have proved that students at Wake are truly motivated to help the community that surrounds and supports them,” Smith said.

Keith agreed, and noted that the competitive spirit of the competition is always a big boost.

“Any time we can beat Duke, UNC and the rest of the state’s schools while being of service to our communities, it is a cause worth pursuing.”