Adapted from a Berkeley News story
A roundup of holiday giving opportunities on campus:
Giving at the Library
The Interlibrary Services department at the University Library is hosting a Holiday Food Drive. The drive runs through Wednesday, Dec. 21, and all donated food will go directly to the Berkeley Food Pantry, which works to address the scourge of hunger in our community. Donations of sealed, non-perishable food items may be dropped off at 133 Doe Library between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm, Monday to Friday.
“We’re hoping to make it easy for people to give,” explains Patrick Shannon, head of Interlibrary Services. “If they are coming to The Library to work or study, having a donation bin right here might make it more likely that they will donate.”
Meals for students
Back by popular demand, the year-old Cal Nourish program is again asking faculty and staff members to donate gift cards from local markets to help many among the estimated 800 Berkeley students who will struggle to buy food during the winter holiday break.
From mid-December to mid-January, “students have a deeper need for food security because their financial aid packages don’t cover time that is not considered (part of) the instruction periods they are enrolled in,” explains Fabrizio Mejia, assistant vice chancellor for student equity and success. “Many are going home, if they have a home, to a family or a support system that has little means to feed another mouth.”
By Monday, Dec. 12, Raymond asks that gift cards in amounts between $20 and $50 from these markets — Andronico’s, Berkeley Bowl, Safeway, Target, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods — be delivered to any of several campus offices:
- North side of campus – Room 101 Giannini Hall, College of Natural Resources
- East side of campus – Almadora Henry, front desk, dean’s office, 545 Student Services Building, Haas School of Business
- South side of campus – Trisha Milazzo, 201 Boalt Hall, Berkeley Law
- West side of campus – Main reception desk, Room 192, Human Resources, University Hall
- Campus Shared Services – Pam Lyons, cubicle No. 301-13, 1608 4th Street, Berkeley
Gift cards should be placed in an envelope with the name and email address of the individual giver or department on the outside. They will be distributed to students on Dec. 13 and 14.
Points for the pantry
Another campus program, I Love the Food Pantry, is asking students for help this season. Students can use their unused dining hall meal points to help buy groceries for the UC Berkeley Food Pantry in the ASUC MLK Jr. Student Union. Anyone can contribute to the pantry throughout the year by volunteering time or funds. Cal Dining uses the food cost value of the combined meal points to purchase groceries needed and approved by the food pantry.
Students can donate their meal points to the I Love the Food Pantry program through Friday, Dec. 16, by stopping by any one of these Cal Dining retail locations — the Golden Bear Café, The Den (next to Crossroads dining hall), Cub Market (next to Foothill dining commons), Bear Market (near Café 3) and CKCub on the Clark Kerr campus.