Thiel College first-year student food drive tops 10 tons collected with 2023 event

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- The Thiel College first-year student food drive collected 3,675 pounds of food this year bringing the total collected to just over 10 tons since the event's inception in 2018.

As a service-learning project, new students spend their first weekend in Greenville placing bags on porches to collect food for those in need with the goal of collecting more than 3,500 pounds of non-perishable food. 

On Tuesday morning, August 29, the same students returned to pick up the bags of food from community members who left donations outside their home. Last year students gathered 3,562.5 pounds of food. Combined, Thiel College students have collected more than 20,675 pounds of food for the community. 

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, according to FeedingAmerica.org. Rural communities make up 63% of counties in the United States and 91% of counties with the highest rates of overall food insecurity, according to data from FeedingAmerica.org.

The donations are turned over to the Good Shepherd and Salvation Army food pantries.

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