Vet Corps/Helping Hands food drive a success at WWU

Vet Corps and University Dining Services would like to thank everyone who helped make the Vet Corps/Helping Hands Food Drive a success. The food drive ran Nov. 8 to 19, with donation collection sites located throughout campus.

This year Vet Corps, WWU's Veteran Community, the AS Veteran's Outreach Center, Residence Life and University Dining Services teamed up by combining two food drives into one large joint effort. The annual University Dining Services’ Helping Hands Food Drive ran in support of the Vet Corps Food Drive. By joining forces, and by the generosity of the WWU campus community, the combined food drive collected 1,175 pounds of food. That’s almost twice as many donations as last year’s Helping Hands Food Drive, which brought in about 620 pounds of food.

All donations were delivered to the Combat Veterans International Food Bank on Nov. 22 to ensure our community’s homeless veterans had enough to eat around Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving.

Thank you again Western Washington University for your generosity!

University Dining Services at Western Washington University is provided by Sodexo Campus Services. In 1999, Sodexo established the Sodexo Foundation, which has been committed to being a driving and creative force that contributes to a hunger-free nation. From nutrition programs for children to job training for adults, the Foundation supports hunger-related initiatives on the local, state, and national levels.

Vet Corps is a new program under AmeriCorps that started in 2009. This is the first year that there has been a Vet Corps member at Western Washington University. The current WWU Vet Corps Navigator is Chris Brown. His duties this year are to assist veterans transitioning into higher education, to facilitate administrative change toward more veteran supportive practices on campus and to coordinate service projects throughout the year. This year’s successful food drive was just one of several projects that will be happening on campus and in the greater community this school year involving veterans.