Greenville Tech Students Fill Bus With Food Donations

The fruits of Greenville Tech students' labor were stuffed into a bus Tuesday to help the public better visualize their efforts.

Greenville Tech participated in a college-wide food drive for Harvest Hope Food Bank. 

Greenville Tech students distributed collection bags to each office on four campuses and returned days later to pick up donated items. The result was more than 20 boxes of food. Students in College Skills classes competed to see which class could bring in the most items. The competition resulted in over 1,200 items with the winning class bringing in 231 items. Honors students were also very active in the food drive, coordinating with College Skills students to distribute bags and provide food pickups from all offices.  

Early Care and Education students collected the bags that were distributed to offices. Many of these are reusable bags that will help with food drives in the future. In addition, they collected 419 food items thanks to a competition between classrooms in the Childhood Development Center. The one-year-old classroom raised the most, with 125 items. That class received books as a prize. 

In addition to food collected, the drive resulted in a cash donation totaling $170. Through the effort, students learned that Harvest Hope can provide five meals for every dollar received. Thus, the $170 donation can be turned into 850 meals for hungry people.

“We are so pleased to have Greenville Technical College as a partner in the fight against hunger in our community,” said Lorain Crowl, Community Development Coordinator for Harvest Hope. “Right now, one in six families must choose between paying for rent or utilities and buying food for their families. This food drive will go a long way to help us meet the needs of struggling families.” 

The food drive at Greenville Tech was sponsored by Greenville Tech Gives Back, the Honors Program, Student Activities, the Cosmetology Program, College Skills and Experiential Learning.