As part of its fourth annual food drive on Thursday, November 12, the University of Mary Washington will partner with campuses across the nation in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most food collected in a 24-hour period.
The event, Helping Hands Across America, is hosted by UMW Dining Services and is sponsored nationally by its parent company, Sodexo, Inc., as part of efforts to fight hunger on the local level.
The food collected at UMW will be donated to the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank and the Fredericksburg Presbyterian Food Pantry. Financial contributions also are accepted.
A donation drop-off site will be set up at Seacobeck Hall, located by the FRED bus stop on College Avenue near Rowe Street, to accept contributions from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Donation bags will be distributed to homes near the Fredericksburg campus of UMW during the first week of November and picked up by student organizations on Wednesday, November 11.
Volunteers from UMW and the community are encouraged to participate in the food drive by distributing and picking up donation bags at area homes, collecting, weighing and recording donations, and distributing and picking up food collection boxes.
This year, the record that the universities are collectively attempting to break is about 338,000 pounds. UMW aims to collect 5,000 pounds of food, which will help provide 4,000 meals for local individuals.
“We hope that the members of our community will ‘lend a hand’ and help us not only reach our food donation goal but exceed it,” said Rose Benedict, marketing specialist for UMW Dining Services.
Formerly known as Cans Across America, the event at UMW collected 3,366 pounds of donated food last year.
For more information or to volunteer, contact Rose Benedict at (540) 654-1928 or rbenedic@umw.edu.