COS Teams Up With Knights Pantry
The College of Sciences has been keeping busy this semester with numerous activities in celebration of UCF’s 50th Anniversary, including an on-going collaboration with the Knights Helping Knights Pantry.
The College of Sciences Dean’s Office brainstormed ideas for ways faculty, staff, and students could give back while also celebrating the anniversary. The Knights Helping Knights Pantry was the perfect opportunity. The Dean’s Office provided boxes for each department with the college to decorate and place in their offices so students and staff could bring in donations at any time. A friendly competition between the departments to see who could bring in the most donations started and the COS Cares a Ton campaign was born.
The goal amount that COS was hoping to raise was 4,000 lbs. As of February, the campaign had raised 4098.7 pounds. The top departments included Sociology, in first; Communications, in second; Physics, in third; and the Deans Office, in fourth. They raised 1987.1 lbs., 954 lbs., 479.4 lbs., and 337.6 lbs. respectively.
Tami Pullin, the Cares a Ton sociology rep, explained her department’s strategy. “I went to my faculty and told them if they just provide the money to me, I would monitor the sales and cut coupons to get the most food for the money. So, each week I have faculty come and give me their coupons from their Sunday paper and I spend my evenings clipping coupons and going shopping. We also had everyone that came to our Holiday Party bring food and that was a big hit.”
Pullin is the coordinator for the administrative services in the Sociology department and has worked for UCF for 17 years. Since sociology studies poverty/homelessness and other social issues, Pullin thought it would be a great time to get involved. “It’s become sort of a mission for me to do what’s right for these students.”
“We have had departments on campus raise donations for us and host donations boxes, but we have not had a college offer to raise donations, especially a ton of them”, says Nicole Preston, Community Outreach Coordinator of Knights Helping Knights Pantry.
The Knights Helping Knights Pantry is a student driven program at UCF with the goal of assisting students through financially tough times. A partnership with Hope Helps, Inc. allows the pantry to partner with Second Harvest to ensure the pantry stays stocked.
The Pantry worked on an honor system in that students only took what they needed. Due to the growing needs of students, the Pantry was forced to implement a 5 lb. limit on food per day. However, there is no limit on toiletries or clothing.
As of April 10, COS has raised almost 5,000 pounds, which is 1,000 pounds past their original goal. To celebrate all the hard work, COS will be accepting one final collection on Thursday, April 18. The donations will not count for points toward the departments. It will just be a final donation from COS to the Knights Helping Knights Pantry.
The event will be held at the Moat Sports Grille, located at 4250 Alafaya Trail, Suite 100, Oviedo FL 32765, from 7-10 p.m. on April 18. Come out and help the COS Cares a Ton campaign support Knights Pantry.
