Food for thought

Students host second annual ‘ExtravaCANza’  event to benefit Blue Ridge Area Food Bank

By Megan Williams, senior writer
Posted on November 29, 2007

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Network, headquartered in Verona, Va. is preparing for its busiest time of the year.

Ruth Jones, public relations coordinator for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, said the food bank receives 50 percent of its monetary donations for the year Nov. to Jan. and 30 percent of its food donations for the year.

“The community really comes together to ensure that everyone gets a meal [during the] holiday season,” Jones said.

Seniors Hannah Murrow, Megan Koptish, Lauren Saunders and Susan Clark are putting a new spin on the traditional food drive organizing the second annual ExtravaCANza event as part of an assignment for SCOM 350.

“Our event is an amateur version of the nationally recognized ‘Canstruction’ competition where architects and engineers compete to build amazing structures out of cans,”  senior Hannah Murrow said.

On Dec. 1 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. five teams will compete to build the best canned food structure at the Valley Mall out of cans collected through donation barrels around campus.                           

Shoppers can vote for the winner by placing a dollar in a team’s box. The team that collects the most money will win the competition and all donations will go to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

“Our class was introduced to seven different service learning projects at the beginning of the semester,” Murow said. “From there, our group was placed together in the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Network canned food drive.  We did not know each other beforehand but we have spent an enormous amount of time together while planning and preparing for this event.”

Murrow said the food bank has been involved with the event.

“This event would not exist this year without the guidance we received from them,” she said. “Everyone at the food bank is ready and willing to help in any way possible.” 

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank serves 25 counties and nine cities in Virginia and has distributed more than 100 million pounds of food in the service area since its establishment in 1981, according to its Web site. Last year it distributed 8.7 million pounds of food.

“We can determine down to the square mile where the most need is,” Jones said. “It really helps us determine where to put our efforts, although we really want to feed everybody.”

Each branch of the food bank has a Food Security Specialist whose job is to determine where there is need in a community, facilitate programs and recruit agencies.

After donations are brought in to the food bank they are sorted and inspected before being stocked on shelves or put in the “store.”

Every branch has a store where local agencies, such as churches or organizations like the Boys and Girls club, can come and shop or place orders and take food back to their local community to distribute.

 The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank also buys food.

“We’re purchasing about $400,000 worth of food this year,” Jones said. “A lot of those purchased foods go to providing families with balanced meals.”

Although non-perishable foods are requested during food drives, the branches of the food bank network have the means to store some perishable items such as turkeys and hams, both of which are commonly donated around this time of year, according to Jones.

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank facilitates a number of educational programs, according to Jones, One of which is Super Pantries, a six-week course for the entire family to teach them how to cook balanced meals on a budget. At the end of each lesson the family takes home the recipes and enough food to last them until the next class.

“We believe in educating as well,” Jones said. “Not just providing food.”