RU food drive fills food pantry shelves

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Brett Johnson, left, and Derrick Eppard with some of the food donated by members of Greek Life before being taken to an area food bank.

Radford University once again answered the call to help feed area families in need.

The fifth annual Holiday Food Drive, sponsored by the Greek Life community, saw tremendous support from the campus community this semester.

From Nov. 17 to Dec. 12, participants donated non-perishable food items at collection tables set up at the Hurlburt Student Center, McConnell Library and at RU men's home basketball games.

Greek Life members manned the drop-off sites, and on the last day of the drive, they helped load two mini-vans with more than 2,300 pounds of food.

According to Assistant Director of Student Activities- Greek Life Robert Marias, the food collected will supply a local food pantry for the next three months.

The Greek Life community organizes each year the drive with RU's Parking Enforcement Officer Bob Hickman, who operates a local food pantry that supplies food to area philanthropies, such as the Radford Food Bank and Beans and Rice.

"The true lesson of this annual service event is to show the RU community that we can help our neighbors, friends and in some cases, our own families, have a better holiday season as we open our wallets, pantries and hearts to support our piece of the world and make a difference for a family we may never meet," Marias said.

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From left: Robert Marias (Greek Life), Brett Johnson (Sigma Pi), Derrick Eppard (Sigma Pi), Jessica Clervoi (Alpha Kappa Alpha) and Isaac Nicely, student worker, outside of Hurlburt, with two vehicles loaded with donations from Greek Life.

Dec 16, 2014