The University of Western Ontario is looking to assist the London and Area Food Bank ease the need of thousands of London and area families this holiday season.
The Western Cares Food Drive, in its seventh years of stamping out hunger, is counting on the campus community to go that extra mile and ensure the food bank can assist the most vulnerable in London.
The London and Area Food Bank provides emergency food items to more than 30 social service agencies in the London area, along with assisting over 2,800 families – or 7,500 individuals – each month.
“That’s almost the entire complement of employees who work at Western,” says Scott May, Western Cares Food Drive chair. “Imagine our whole campus in need of food this holiday season. That just shows you how much the city needs our help.”
The Western Cares Food Drive is up and running and are accepting donations until Dec. 10 at more than 25 campus locations. For a list of buildings and locations, visit communications.uwo.ca/facultyandstaff.
Last year, Western collected more than 14,000 pounds of food, contributing to the citywide Business Cares Food Drive success of more than 218,000 pounds. The 11th annual Business Cares Food Drive officially launched Dec. 1, with more than 300 companies on board this year.
May adds the campus campaign is always looking for ‘building champions’ to assist in monitoring the donation location in their building. If interested, contact May at smay5@uwo.ca.
“Making the difference in local family’s life is as simple as picking up a few extra items at the grocery story,” says May. “Without London there is no Western, and without Western there is no London. We are in this together and we all need to do our part. A simple gesture can make a big change.”