Changes to the annual Campus Holiday Food Drive
Over the last several years, the Campus Holiday Food Drive has assisted hundreds of students at Â鶹´«Ã½ University and Durham College and their families with timely support during the holiday season, while also providing opportunities for our broader campus community to come together and contribute to a great cause.
This year the COVID-19 situation requires us to take a different approach to helping our students. Due to current public-health-mandated physical distancing requirements and other safety precautions, traditional in-person fundraising activities (e.g. sales of plants, toques and baked goods, or the puck toss event), as well as hamper-packing day, are just not possible to organize and execute.
In addition, cultural diversity is something the university and college deeply value. We are taking this opportunity to evaluate all of our programs, including the Campus Holiday Food Drive, to ensure they serve the greatest number of students.
That’s why starting this year we’ve changed from the Campus Holiday Food Drive to the Campus Food Drive, and we’re shifting our focus toward helping qualifying students with families, and students living away from home and experiencing food insecurity, regardless of family circumstances or holiday observances. This also allows us to continue with this campaign as needed throughout the year.
How can you help?
- If you’ve traditionally donated to the Campus Holiday Food Drive or the university’s campaign, consider supporting our students by donating to and sharing the campaign with your family and friends.
- If your team has hosted fundraising events in the past, find creative, virtual fundraising alternatives you can participate in this year.
- If you know a student in need, direct them to so they can complete an assessment to determine eligibility, and learn about other supports that may be available to them.
Even though our Campus Food Drive efforts are going to look different moving forward, the overall goal and spirit of the initiative remain the same.
Thank you for your continued generous support!
For more information, contact fooddrive@dc-ot.ca.
