Story By: Cameron W. Johnson

On November 20th, the University of Montevallo ended its first Thanksgiving Food Drive with a representatives of its sponsors gathering to pack up the donations. Initiated on October 21st, the drive ultimately drew enough food donations from students to almost fill the entire boxing room.

The Food Drive was a joint-effort to provide donated meals to families in need this holiday season. It was sponsored by several offices and student organizations at Montevallo, including the Office of Service Learning and Community Engagement, the Minority Student Union and the Hispanic Student Organization.

The Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Coordinator for the Office of Service Learning and Community Engagement, Dr. Sierra Turner hosted the boxing event.  “I think for the first go-around, this has been tremendously successful,” Turner said of the food drive. “I have to give thanks to a lot of the student organizations… and also to the students in my Spanish and African American Studies classes.”

Turner and other faculty members involved in the food drive expressed their thanks to student participants by opening the boxing event with a Thanksgiving feast. Attendants enjoyed chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and lemonade, before getting right to work filling four decorated boxes with donations.

The Hispanic Student Organization was not able to attend this event with its box, but Turner nonetheless dismissed participants early when she realized she would need to purchase several more boxes to accommodate the quantity of meals.

“We’re a new group, but we’re already building our community so quickly,” said Jason Perry, adviser for the Minority Student Union. “And to see them do all of this is just amazing.”

The Shelby Baptist Association and Montevallo’s Falcon Scholars in Action will be distributing these meals on November 22nd and 25th.

Sponsors of the Thanksgiving Food Drive will also be holding a Christmas Toy Drive from December 2nd to December 6th. During this time, students are encouraged to donate toys that will be distributed to Montevallo families.