Competition to bring in food for Benny’s Pantry a success
And the winner is….
A few weeks ago, Idaho State University started a competition among on campus organizations and local businesses to bring in breakfast food donations for Benny’s Pantry – the on campus student food pantry.
Now, that competition is over and the winner has been announced.
ISU Credit Union brought in the most breakfast food donations and as the winner, it gets to display the handmade, unique – and very literal – cereal bowl trophy.
“We’re excited to be the winner, we’re excited to hang that trophy up in our campus branch,” said Beth Cheirrett, marketing manager with ISU Credit Union. “We’re the educational partner of the community and because of that, we love being involved in any way. Benny’s Pantry, especially, is such a worthy cause. We know that there’s lots of hunger on ISU’s campus and we love everything, especially around the holidays, that can help with that.”
In total, the entire cereal bowl competition brought in 500 pounds of food for benny’s pantry.
“This food that we’re receiving through the cereal bowl will sustain our shelves for at least three months of our spring semester and that is tremendous for us,” said Brooke Barber, with Benny’s Pantry.
The competition focused on breakfast foods because that’s one of the pantry’s biggest needs.
“Breakfast foods tend to leave the pantry more quickly,” Barber explained. “I believe, first of all, because students want to start their day well. Secondly, it’s a bit more expensive to buy cereal in the grocery stores and so I think for families, to be able to come to the pantry and select oatmeal and cereal and granola bars for their families, makes a big difference for their livelihood.”
More than 50 businesses and on campus organizations participated in the competition and Barber said it was a success for the pantry.
“It’s exciting to think that this was just the first annual cereal bowl competition and to think that in the future this will grow, is exciting to think about,” she said.
Each year, Benny’s Pantry distributes 13,000 pounds of food to ISU students and faculty who need it.
