By Kelline Linton, Chief Copy Editor
Fifty-three groups consisting of freshmen and Welcome Week leaders roamed the neighborhoods of Abilene Thursday for the annual Welcome Week service project.
At one time, almost 1,000 students were knocking on doors, praying over houses and handing out fliers as they asked citizens for canned goods, non-perishable foods and monetary donations for the Food Bank of West Central Texas.
The Food Bank serves hundreds of hungry children and families in the Big Country. It fights hunger by providing food to non-profit organizations that feed the hungry; such partner agencies include soup kitchens and church pantries. It also uses all cash donations to buy food at a reduced price; for every $10 donated, the Food Bank provides enough food for 45 meals. In the last year alone, the Food Bank distributed 3 million pounds of emergency food to West Central Texas.
Students last participated in a canned goods drive for Welcome Week in 2002. Six years later, the First-Year Program and Volunteer and Service-Learning Center decided to use the Food Bank service project again for two reasons.
Nancy Coburn, the director of the VSLC, said, “We did this project because the economy is so challenging right now that many soup kitchens like the Food Bank are striving to meet a greater demand as more families seek their aid, and because the Freshman Common Reading used a book [Same Kind of Different as Me] that touched on how someone could minister through the service of soup kitchens.”
Student groups deposited the collected food donations at two sites around Abilene-the United Supermarkets on Judge Ely Boulevard and Buffalo Gap Road. A van from the Food Bank was stationed in each parking lot.
The vans were packed full with bottled waters, boxes of food and bags of cans. Students stood outside the United Supermarket doors, distributing fliers and explaining the food drive to customers. Several times during the day, customers bought canned goods on the spot or gave the students monetary donations.
Derek Chase, freshman missions major from Southlake, canvassed the neighborhood and handed out fliers.
“We were taking light to other people,” he said. “It really helped everyone to understand what ACU is all about; it’s not just a school but a community of believers who are going to be active in their faith through service,” Chase said.
The record for the most food collected by ACU students at one time was 20,000 pounds; freshmen achieved this record the first year the food drive was implemented as a service project. This year, a total of 12,179 pounds of food was collected; this is equivalent to 9,515 meals. No matter the numbers, the project’s ultimate goal was accomplished, Coburn said.
“The point of doing this service project was to introduce our students to this aspect of ACU life,” Coburn said. “Service is an important part of the university, and we hoped to spark a sense of service.”
