The 13^th Annual WSOY Community Food Drive has ended with great success. Not only did Millikin surpass its own goal of 5,500 lbs., but the Decatur community gathered over one million lbs. during this event.

It’s amazing to look back and compare how the first year this food drive took place, the community’s goal was 35,000 lbs., and now Decatur is raising more than a million. Everyone in the community knows how worthwhile this food drive is, and we can see how people care through their generosity.

This generosity can be seen across the campus. The students were more into the project this year than any other year, and hopefully that participation will increase. Since the food drive is becoming more and more important to the students, there were donations from all across campus.

Some of the school’s sororities and fraternities even had a competition to donate the most pounds of food. Tri-Delta gave 150 lbs., TKE gave 260, and ATO gave 470 to the cause. On top of this, students even donated money for a shopping trip to purchase more products to reach the goal. This was done during the Friday Food Frenzy in the parking lots from 7:15-8:15a.m., and, in total, there was $1,140 raised for that shopping trip.

The goal for Millikin was created by a 17 person committee. They initially set the goal for 5,500 lbs. of food, but with all of the extremely generous donations of food and money, Millikin was able to contribute 5,572 lbs.

There was also a lot of help from the community in promoting the food drive. One person that greatly contributed to the cause was Brian Byers. Byers did a show on WSOY to talk and get people excited about the food drive from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. This was a huge commitment, and probably helped to bring in many more donations from the Decatur area.

At the end of the event, President White, Marilyn Davis, Ken Jordan and Verneil Phillips took Millikin’s donations to the drop-off point at Kroger. The food was counted and weighed as they were unloading, and the generosity and success of the Millikin community could be seen.

Everything that was donated will go to help families in need. While many people are lucky not to worry about where their next meal is coming from, there is great need in town. In an interview, President White mentioned how it is important that we see ourselves as being Decatur’s university, and that it is our responsibility to help the community thrive. Although students do focus on issues in the community, we should be constantly looking for what more can be done to help. Also, though it is not a requirement for a student to help out, he feels it’s a requirement to be an engaged citizen and a leader, which isn’t a bad thing. Working on these kinds of projects can be fun, and people will feel good when they reach a goal or contribute.

Doing work like this will help to show that Millikin is a valuable part of the community, and the university hopes to continue being more valuable next year with this project with the goal that everyone will donate at least one pound towards the goal.