“Beat Hunger, Beat Auburn” event supports Harvest Hope
Multiple USC departments and sponsors rallied to fight hunger while getting the campus amped for Saturday’s football game with the “Beat Hunger, Beat Auburn” food drive on Greene Street Wednesday.
Carolina Dining, Vehicle Management, the men and women’s basketball teams, cheerleaders and even Cocky were all involved in the pep rally.
Carolina Dining Marketing Manager Cynthia Steele said that Sodexo, Coca-Cola Co. of Columbia, Carolina Collegiate Federal Credit Union and General Mills Inc. helped sponsor the rally.
Steele, who coordinated the drive, said this is the university’s “big campaign” to help Harvest Hope counter hunger.
For $5 or five canned food items, students could get five tickets to play for prizes in a variety of hunger-themed games.
Students were knocking down pins in “Knock Out Hunger,” playing golf in “Putt Away Hunger” or throwing footballs in “Toss Away Hunger.”
Students exchanged tickets they won for different prizes. Students could buy candy or Gamecock cups for two or four tickets respectively, or a highly coveted “Beat Auburn” T-shirt for 10 tickets.
“I wanted this shirt and I did something good,” Tyler Sims said while handing in his tickets and claiming his garnet prize. The first-year electrical engineering student quickly left his morning class and went to CVS to buy 10 cans for the cause.
“It’s better to buy food than to just give money,” Sims said.
Winning the prizes wasn’t the main focus for third-year criminal justice student Kaleb Broome, who shot some basketballs and passed a few footballs.
“It didn’t matter if I won or not. It’s for a good cause,” he said. “A lot of people support us at the games so we’ve got to support other people.”
All of the cans collected, which are tallied by the pound, will be loaded on a bus provided by USC’s Vehicle Management.
“We will weigh the bus before we load the cans and then after we load it,” said Derrick Huggins, Vehicle Management’s assistant vice president.
Steele said that Carolina Dining has been gathering money by selling “Helping Hands” stickers at all on-campus dining locations since Sept. 20 and will continue through today.
“We will deliver the final tally of cans and money to Harvest Hope on Monday,” she said.