A&M-Commerce ‘Cans It to COVID’ With Food Drive for University Food Pantry

Can it to COVID food drive

More than 2,000 pounds of food was given to the Lion Food Pantry at Texas A&M University-Commerce as part of the “Can it to COVID” food drive.

The Lion Food Pantry assists A&M-Commerce students who are experiencing food insecurity by providing free food items at designated pick-up times every Wednesday.

The food drive was spearheaded by A&M-Commerce student and Hunt County's Miss United States Agriculture candidate, Madison Wynne, as well as the A&M-Commerce First-Year Leadership Class (FLC). This service project benefitted the Lion community as part of Wynne's duties as Miss Agriculture.

To encourage participation, the food drive featured a competitive aspect, with teams able to register and donate together. The team that donated the most food received a prize. The competitive nature seemed to work, as 22 teams banded together to donate 2,332 pounds of food, while collecting $1,110 in monetary donations for the food pantry to use as well.

The winners with the highest total were the Grad School Harvesters, represented by members of the A&M-Commerce Graduate School. The rest of the top five was occupied by teams from the College of Innovation and Design, Campus Recreation, the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, and the Procurement Office, which finished second through fifth, respectively.

Wynne considered the food drive a resounding success, saying she appreciated the response by the university community.

“I was really excited about the outcome, and I was even more excited to have the community come together and be able to help and support the Lion Food Pantry like they did,” Wynne said. “Everything was so unexpected and it just made me feel blessed about what I have and feel even more blessed to live in a supportive community.”

Coy Martin, FLC instructor, said the support shown with this project makes a big impact.

“Seeing how much we were able to raise with this service project was the most impactful thing that I have seen since teaching the First-Year Leadership Class,” Martin said. “It was such an overwhelming thing to see. The students were so excited to be able to give such a large donation to the Lion Food Pantry, especially during hard times like we have been in during COVID.”

Learn more about the Lion Food Pantry and how you can help solve food insecurity on campus.