Word TravELS 011 July - December 2017

ELS Events
“Yes! We can.”
T
he 3rd Annual ELS Food Drive was a great success.
Over a 4-week period, students and staff
surpassed the goal of collecting 1,500 food and
household items. According to the volunteer at The
University of Alberta Campus Food Bank who
weighed all items, the total weight came to 1,160 lbs
(526 kg)!
The drive kicked off with an announcement to all classes
via a video from Barbara, the main organizer and
coordinator of the drive. This was followed up via our
weekly announcement “Simon Says” by the cutest
bear on campus, Simon. (OK. GUBA is the coolest. But
the cutest? That has to be Simon.)
During each week of the drive, students
and staff would bring in items according
to the “theme” of week: canned
food, dry goods, personal hygiene
items, etc. The themes were coordinated
with the Campus Food Bank according
to the items most needed.
Each class was also asked to compete
with the other classes in coming up
with the best team name. Jayne’s EAP
140 came up with the winning name,
“Helping Hearts.” Other teams names
included “Food for Free,” Empty &
Filled,” and “The Crazy Canuck Crew.”
Barbara’s class, Team “Eaters Without
Borders” came in top as the class that made the most
donations.
Then came delivery
day. How
do you deliver
over 1,500 items
from the downtown
campus to
North Campus?
We could have
asked our student
volunteers
and staff to
each take a box
and ride the LRT
across the
North Saskatchewan
River. As
interesting a
spectacle that
could have been… (Come on! A food convoy on an
LRT train? How cool is that!)
The UAlberta Vehicle Pool generously lent us a van to
deliver the items from our office in Enterprise Square
to the Campus Food Bank, located in the Students’
Union Building (SUB) on North Campus.
W o r d T r a v E L S | 4