UA Wins 2008 Beat Auburn Beat Hunger Food Drive Competition

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama won the 2008 Beat Auburn Beat Hunger Food Drive by collecting 270,915 pounds of food to top Auburn University’s collection of 212,195 pounds of food.

The annual event, created by the UA Community Service Center and the West Alabama Food Bank some 14 years ago, takes place during the four weeks leading up to the Iron Bowl football game between the two schools.

Students, faculty, staff, alumni and the West Alabama community “fight” Auburn University and the Food Bank of East Alabama to see who can collect the most nonperishable food for families in need in the area and in surrounding counties.

The final totals were announced today. This is the second year in a row that UA has won the competition.

The amount of food collected at UA is enough to supply the West Alabama Food Bank for an entire year, said Josh Burford, coordinator of freshman community outreach at the UA Community Service Center.

“We were going to be happy if we just collected 200,000 pounds of food this year in the economic downturn. So, the fact that we made 270,915 means that that everyone in the community came together,” Burford noted.

UA students will volunteer at the West Alabama Food Bank to help sort the food collected; individual/student organization winners at UA in the food collection drive will also be announced next week.

The annual food drive is sponsored by the CSC, Bama Dining and the West Alabama Food Bank.

The efforts of the two universities have raised more than 1.5 million pounds of food since the event’s inception in 1994.