Students streamed down the third-floor hallway of the Student Union last week, clothing and canned goods in hand, to contribute to the Student Association Food and Clothing Drive.
SA officials plan to donate the food and clothing gathered during the annual drive, which ends Thursday, to the Buffalo City Mission.
The event reflects SA's commitment to helping the less fortunate in areas of Buffalo far from the confines of Amherst, said SA President George Pape.
Last year, SA donated 4.5 tons of clothing to the City Mission.
This year's event is a competition of sorts among the various SA clubs. After SA officials weigh the food and clothing that is donated, clubs receive points and community service hours based on the amount they donate.
For example, clubs receive one community service hour for each 20 pounds of food they donate, and one hour for every 10 pounds of clothing they donate.
Clubs and organizations also receive points for the food and clothing they provide. At the end of the drive, the three clubs that have contributed the most towards the drive will each receive monetary awards.
The first place club in each category will win $250. Second place will receive $150 and third place receives $75.
Brooks Isoldi, president of the Computer Science and Engineering Undergraduate Student Association and a senior political science and computer science major, said that though his club is small, they're not in it for the money. Besides fulfilling community service requirements, the drive is an activity participants can walk away from with a sense of fulfillment.
"There are SA clubs who have 15 to 20 times the amount of people we do," said Isoldi. "We're probably not going to win. I knew that from the beginning, but it's a good thing to do, especially around the holidays."
President of the Women's Ice Hockey club and sophomore business major Ashley Heyd said her group has won prizes from the drive in the past. She said the group could to do the same this year, with club members' parents helping to find food and clothing.
"It's a competition between all the clubs," she said. "People don't like losing, so it gets everyone to participate. It's easier than just asking random people to drop off donations."
Undergraduate students who are not members of an SA club may donate food and clothing as well, SA officials said. All donations may be brought to 315 Student Union between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The greatest rewards for contributing to the drive are personal, according to SA Vice President Jocelyn Tejada.
"It is our duty to better the Buffalo community as well as the collegiate community in every way we can," Tejada said. "The gift of self-giving is greater than any reward possible."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
