This Thanksgiving, Drake University students and faculty (and Griff II) are teaming up to provide 20,000 meals for those in need. The Ron and Jane Olson Institute for Public Democracy will be hosting a meal drive in partnership with Meals from the Heartland in Parents Hall in Olmsted on Friday, Nov. 22, in an effort to bring awareness to and improve the issue of food insecurity. The Institute’s first big service project highlights food insecurity and the impact that students can have on the community.
Rachel Paine Caufield, co-executive director and a professor of political science at Drake University, defined the Institute as a “cooperative and collaborative effort on Drake’s campus to engage with the works of promoting democratic practice in all of its forms — discourse, community improvement and understanding how we interact with democracy.”
The Institute, now in its third year, is a scholarship program meant to help students develop habits of citizenship and implement that training within their community. It was those scholars that put the meal drive in motion.
“We sat down with the scholars last year, and all of them agreed on food insecurity as an issue that would be of interest to them,” Paine Caufield said. “They’ve all been involved in conversations and planning for the whole event.”
As a campus-wide service project, Paine Caulfield hopes it will “highlight the needs of our immediate community and food insecurity around the world.”
“We wanted to give back to not just the Drake community, but the community overall,” said Amanda Favazza, one of the Institute’s scholars. “It’s the first service project we’re doing on campus and we want to let people know who we are and what we want to do. By giving back to the community, that’s a small way to show it.”
In order to bring those goals to fruition, the OIPD has partnered with Meals for the Heartland, a volunteer organization located in West Des Moines that has worked with hundreds of thousands of volunteers to package and distribute meals in Iowa, the United States and across the globe. The OIPD hopes to pack 20,000 meals during the meal drive on the Friday before Thanksgiving.
“It’s a timely issue; when people go home and have that meal, not everyone can. With the season of giving, [the meal drive] seemed appropriate,” Favazza said.
Another OIPD scholar, Nora Miller, was in charge of advertising the event. She designed the posters, promoted it on social media and worked on digital communications.
“The meal drive is really exciting to me. It’s the first big service project that we’re doing, and it gives us good visibility while helping another organization and promoting our mission of civil engagement,” Miller said.
Sean Groh, another scholar in the program, was responsible for getting the word out about the meal drive in residence halls and Fraternity and Sorority Life.
“We’re trying to get as many people as possible,” Groh said. “We’d like to have 100 people per shift, so 200 in total, or more would be perfect.”
Another scholar, Mitch Davis, said that the OIPD was confident about those numbers.
“We think we can do that. One hundred is an attainable number for a campus of this size,” Davis said. “I’m optimistic about the campus and about Drake students being willing to serve.”
Practitioner in Residence of the Institute David Young called the partnership “a great fit for Drake . . . not just because of the great reputation of Meals for the Heartland but also to carry out the spirit of Drake University.”
“It’s selfless giving, thinking about others, helping to embrace opportunity and helping to create opportunity for others. It’s helping to create a better world,” Young said of that spirit.
Groh recognized the difficulties that some students have with taking on additional activities but stressed the importance of the meal drive.
“Obviously, we’re all college students and we’re all busy, but it’s great to take time to give back to the community and internationally where people can’t afford to feed their children,” Groh said.
For Young, it’s about hope.
“Providing a meal for somebody or a family can go a long way to restore their confidence in others and hopefully, when they’re in a better situation, they can give back as well,” Young said.
Groh encouraged Drake students to take part in the meal drive.
“It’ll be fun, you can get service hours and this is going towards a great organization,” Groh said.
Students can sign up to volunteer at the event by scanning the QR codes on OIPD flyers around campus or through the Institute’s page on DUGood.
