news of note Feeding the Hungry The 6th annual Eastern Washington University Community Food Drive generated more than $15,000 in cash donations for area food banks and outreach programs, bringing the six-year total raised to $72,083.06. During the same period, more than 16-anda-quarter tons of food have been donated during the community service event. Of the total cash donations, almost $8,200 will go to the Cheney Food Bank. Director John Matthews said donations will go a long way toward stocking the shelves to help the approximately 400 families who rely on the Food Bank. “Five-thousand dollars will give us the ability to purchase about 10,000 pounds of food,” said Matthews. “It makes a big impact and the need is only growing.” Another $6,800 raised this year will go to the Communities in Schools of Spokane County, which sponsors such programs as the Friday Backpacks of Food program. This money will provide 42 children with a weekend backpack filled with food, and is part of a nationwide effort to reduce the dropout rate and give children a secure meal source on the weekends.
During the six-year run of the Food Drive, donations have made it possible to sponsor 120 students in the Friday Backpacks for Food program and filled another 256 backpacks with school supplies, which are distributed through Cheney Outreach. “The generosity of the EWU community amazes me every year,” said Nadine Arévalo, co-chair of the food drive. “It’s a key initiative for the university to give back to the community.” Every year, various university teams have competed to see who could collect the most food, raise the most money and collect the most backpacks filled with school supplies.
EWU Recognized for Community Service Eastern Washington University has been named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). A total of 690 higher education institutions were named to this year’s Honor Roll. The Honor Roll recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities. Combined, the Honor Roll awardees engaged 3.1 million students in community service for a total of 118 million service hours. That’s $2.5 billion in value to communities across the country. Selection to the Honor Roll is recognition from the highest levels of the federal government of Eastern’s commitment to service and civic engagement on campus and in our nation. The entire Honor Roll is available at www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll. ewu.edu/Engage
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