“The goal is obviously to see who can get the most amount of weight in canned foods, but the ultimate goal is to let the people that benefit from Farmville Area Community Emergency Services (F.A.C.E.S) and the community benefit as much as possible and receive as much as possible, and so the goal is to do as well as we can so that the people of the Farmville community, and the surrounding areas are able to receive as much as we’re able to give them,” said Alex Ricker-Gilbert, the director of Compliance and Athletics and the advisor of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
During the 2012-13 school year, Longwood University will be competing with other schools in the Big South in order to collect the most cans by the end of Spring Semester. Currently, Longwood is sixth out of the 12 schools that are competing in the competition, from the last weigh in at the end of last semester.
“We’re doing well,” said Ricker-Gilbert, “and we hope to move up into those rankings. But again the end goal is to just benefit the people who benefit from F.A.C.E.S as much as possible.”
This can drive started in October 2012, but this is the first year that there has been a year long initiative for canned food. SAAC representatives met at the beginning of the year and decided that their initiative for the year would be a yearlong can drive competition.
“Currently, there are boxes in all of the academic buildings and TABB, where the cans are collected, and Iler, where the cans are weighed,” said Kelley Fay, an executive SACC member.
“We have boxes in some academic buildings. We also have them in residents’ halls. We have one in Willett, one in the REC center, one in the Student Union and one in D-Hall,” said Ricker-Gilbert. “We’ve found that [while] you don’t need to donate cans, it can be any food, but obviously cans tend to be heavier than things in other, lighter material.”
The can drive will end at the end of the spring semester. Every couple of months, each school sends in how much weight in food they have, and once final exams conclude, there will be the final weigh in, and then the winner will be announced. That school will then have bragging rights within the conference.
“[Competing in the conference are] Radford, Longwood, VMI and Liberty,” said Ricker-Gilbert. “Really, what I want to empathize while it is a competition, the ultimate goal is to have people in the community benefit from what we’re doing, as an athletic department and as a university.”
If you would like additional information on the competition, contact Kelley Fay at kelley.fay@live.longwood.edu or Alex Ricker-Gilbert at 434-395-2417 or rickergilbertar@longwood.edu. To donate to the can drive, just place a non-perishable food item in one of the boxes located in the buildings where a blue and white box can be found (D-Hall, REC Center, Student Union/post office, Willett, Tabb, Library, Comm Building, New Science Building, Hiner and Stubbs).
In addition to accepting any non-perishable item, the program “urgently” needs beans, canned fruits, canned meats, canned tuna, canned salmon, canned vegetables, hot cereals (like oatmeal), cold cereals (Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Frosted Flakes), pasta, rice and spaghetti sauce.
Remember: it’s not about winning or losing. It’s about giving back to the community that welcomes 4,833 people into their lives every eight months and that have 34.6 percent of their population who live under the poverty line
