The Thanksgiving food drive at St. Edward’s University went into full swing on Sunday Nov. 18, with volunteers delivering bags of food to Austin families. Campus Ministry organized the annual food drive. Volunteers collected and organized items such as canned beans, corn, dry cereals, oats and other non-perishables. They also collected frozen turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner that they delivered to 50 local families.

From Nov. 12 through 16, donation boxes were placed all over campus, where anyone could drop off their non-perishable goods to have it sent to families on Thanksgiving Day. Boxes could be found outside Ragsdale Center, in Doyle Hall and other spots around campus.

Junior Zoe Murphy says about 40% of all non-perishable donations came from items in these cardboard donation boxes. The remainder of all donations were brought in by people in the community the day of the food drive.

Murphy, who became involved in Campus Ministry when she did S.E.R.V.E. 1 Day, a day-long community service event, says her favorite part about the food drive is the fact that no matter how busy students are, they “all come together for one cause.”

As Sunday Mass was being held, volunteers — from current Hilltoppers to former ones — waited in the lobby next door to the chapel to await more donations. Reusable bags from H.E.B. filled with non-perishables neatly lined several rows of plastic folding tables. Opposite this was a table lined with frozen turkeys, arranged from small, medium and large.

The annual food drive led with this donation collection and ended with a day of service, where volunteers all gather to deliver food to families. In order to help out, people can donate non-perishable food items or turkeys, volunteer the day of delivery, drive to deliver meals or sponsor a family’s Thanksgiving meal.

Junior Mariana Casillas also highlights how students “find time to volunteer, even as the semester is ending.”

As volunteers awaited more deliveries, a family came by rolling in a red wagon full of donated food. Volunteers thanked the family and took the donations to line them up by the others.