Incoming Thiel College students leading third annual food drive for Greenville community

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- On Sunday, August 22, first-year students at Thiel College will be holding the third annual community food drive in the morning to benefit Greenville’s Good Shepherd and Salvation Army food pantries.

As a service-learning project, the new students will spend their first weekend in Greenville placing bags on porches to collect food for those in need. That Tuesday morning, August 24, the same students will go back to pick up the bags of food for community members that wish to participate.

“After a hiatus due to COVID-19, we are thrilled to be able to continue our first-year student food drive this fall,” said Associate Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Neuroscience Greg Butcher, Ph.D. “The need in our community has grown since the last drive in 2019. Food banks have reported an average increase in demand of 65% according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and nearly 1 in 5 children in Mercer County experience food insecurity (source FeedingAmerica.org).  We hope to surpass the prior year’s record of 4,500 pounds to help meet this need.”

The Good Shepherd and Salvation Army food pantries are looking for nonperishable food items such as canned foods and dry goods.

Combined, Thiel College students have collected more than 7,500 pounds of food for the community since the first collection in 2018. This year, once donations are gathered, they will first be taken to the David Johnson Memorial Chapel to be weighed and sorted before being passed on to the respective food pantries later in the week.

“The food drive is so consistent with our Lutheran understanding and the way that many of the folks in our faith tradition see the church,” Campus Pastor Brian Riddle ’07 said. “The chapel is more than a place on Sunday morning but rather a place to build the community.”

Thiel College senior and Student Government Association President Hannah Uschock ’22 was also a key member of the event’s administrative team.

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