The South Carolina Gamecocks and the LSU Tigers went head to head on the football field on Saturday night, but the two schools participated in a battle for their students in the days leading up to the game.
The USC’s CommUnity Shop competed in a friendly competition with the LSU Food Pantry called the SEC Food Fight, seeing which could accumulate more donations from Oct. 1 to Oct. 11.
The CommUnity Shop is a “basic needs hub” that sits in Suite 4000 of the Carolina Coliseum, providing fresh food, toiletries and clean clothes. According to the university’s Assistant Director for Basic Needs Jennifer Jackson, the CommUnity Shop saw over 12,000 visits in the 2024-25 school year, and visits are already up 300% this school year.
Jackson said that while there has been a positive trend in students coming to the shop, she doesn’t want that to stop just because the Food Fight is over.
“It’s been great to have the effort and that energy around the LSU Food Fight, but this is the level that we need all the time now,” Jackson said.
The CommUnity Shop receives meals from the Harvest Hope Food Bank, along with several on-campus partnerships, including the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management. Panera Bread also sends donations to the shop, as well as the USC Police Department, according to Jackson.
According to Jackson, a third of all college students face food insecurity at some time, so the CommUnity Shop’s mission is to make sure that South Carolina students don’t have to face those struggles for basic needs while being full-time students.
The need to combat food insecurity at USC is elevated by the fact that the state of South Carolina is one of the seven hungriest states in the country, according to Jackson. Jackson is in a coalition with every food pantry in the SEC, because many of the states where SEC schools are located face similar food insecurity issues.
Cereals displayed in the CommUnity shop, located in the Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, South Carolina, on Oct. 15, 2025. The CommUnity shop mission is to provide food, clothing and supplies to students and staff in need
Jackson coordinated with LSU’s Manager of Operations and Food Pantry Jennifer Cristina to do a one-off competition, the first of its kind that the CommUnity Shop has participated in.
“It’s just a good fight, and there’s a history of both of our schools helping each other,” Jackson said.
Back in October of 2015, the Columbia area and much of the state experienced severe flooding in what is now known as the Thousand-Year Flood. The Gamecocks were originally scheduled to host the Tigers at Williams-Brice Stadium, but the game was moved to Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge to help the Columbia area, while many LSU fans sent donations to the Columbia area to contribute with relief.
The NCAA granted then-LSU running back Leonard Fournette permission to auction off an autographed game-worn jersey to help raise money for relief in South Carolina. The jersey was auctioned for $101,000.
A year later, the Baton Rouge area and LSU campus struggled with similar flooding, and it was USC who organized donations on campus and in the community to return the favor and help LSU.
The CommUnity Shop counts on over 150 volunteers, both student and faculty, to run the shop on a daily basis. Jackson said the CommUnity Shop has the ability to sign off on specific service hour requirements for student volunteers.
First-year psychology student Dulce Olvera Flores began volunteering this semester and said her eyes were opened on how important the shop is for many students in need.
“A lot of the students here actually need a lot more help than we realize,” Olvera Flores said.
Maria Sophocleous teaches University 101 as an adjunct instructor at USC and spends much of her time volunteering at the CommUnity Shop. Before volunteering, Sophocleous said she had no idea of the necessities that many students on campus struggle with.
“My mind is blown by how much the students need as far as resources,” Sophocleous said. “I thought it was all like psychological services and medical services, but people actually need to eat, and they don’t have enough.”
The Carolina Closet is a section of the CommUnity Shop that offers clean clothes for free. Much of the clothing consists of professional attire, and Jackson said she had the ability to educate her volunteers and the students in need about the value of looking professional despite possibly struggling with basic needs.
“When employers come for a career fair, the students all look nice,” Jackson said. “They’re all wearing professional clothes, and many of them are getting them from here. And so it doesn’t have to cost you a lot to be able to be prepared for what your future is.”
In the Food Fight, the South Carolina community did its part — the CommUnity Shop received $29,438 monetary donations and 23,168 items donated, totaling to $53,738 in total donations. LSU’s food pantry finished with $15,484 monetary donations to go with 17,883 items donated, finishing with $33,593 total donations in the ten-day period.
Additionally, the CommUnity Shop recorded 727 volunteer hours during the Food Fight, while LSU recorded 226 volunteer hours. Second-year pharmaceutical science student Lanayah Mack said that the efforts show what the university is all about.
“I think that it shows that we’re more than just our academics and our sports, but more so very intertwined in other things and just more than what a normal SEC school would be known for,” Mack said.
With nearly $90,000 in total donations between the two schools, the SEC Food Fight turned into a profitable result for helping student's needs. While the Tigers may have gotten the better of the Gamecocks on the gridiron, South Carolina won the battle of helping one another.
“I just think that Gamecocks are willing to help Gamecocks,” Jackson said. “There’s an understanding of that whenever we all work together, it brings all of us up collectively.”