NEWS
3
Cougar Cave nets big food donation
Two-thousand pounds o f food were donated by Daryl Woods, father
o f Tori and Kristin Woods, to the Cougar Cave for the AS6 food drive.
jeanette wright
the clackamas
PRINT
One ton of food donated to CCC Cougar Cave.
The Clackamas Community College Cougar Cave
food drive is almost over, but two first-year expe
rience students convinced Albertsons-Safewayto
donate over 2000 pounds of food to the student-run
free pantry. Associated Student Government
Community Wellness Director Rachael Morgan is
in charge of the Cougar Cave, and is excited to have
such a huge donation.
“We have so much food right now, so, obvious
ly, the more we get, the more We can give away to
students,” said Morgan.
Sisters Tori and Kristin Woods are both in first-
year experience classes, and heard about the food
drive. They told their father about the need. Their
father, Daryl Woods, is a CCC alumni and distribu
tion manager for the Albertsons-Safeway chain. The
sisters worked on emailing and talking to people,
and were able to secure the six-pallet donation
quickly. Both came to the Cougar Cave to help
deliver the food, and were excited to see the result.
“It feels great to see everybody helping and getting
together” said Tori Woods.
Due to low donation levels, the Cougar Cave
typically has a food drive every term. Now that they
have a surplus of non-perishables, they aren’t sure
that they will have to run the drive next term. ASG
usually depends on individual students and faculty
members for the donations, but this term has been.
more than successful for the Cougar Cave. First-
Clackamas Print
year experience classes have been helping to stock
the Cougar Cave, and rinse awareness of the needs
on campus.
“I think that the students who are in first-year
experience taking on supporting die Cougar Cave
for other students is a terrific project, and it ready
heightens all of our awareness, in regards of where
we come from, food matters, and that food insecu
rity is here, among us,” said CCC president Joanne
Truesdell.
"It’s hard for people to focus
on school when they’re worried
about where their next meal is
coming from ...”
^RachaelMorgan
Awareness, or the lack thereof, is a problem on
campus, and the ASG is trying to find more ways
to let people know about the Cougar Cave, and
donating.
“It’s hard for people to focus on school when
they’re worried about where their next meal is going
to come from, and a lot of people will drop out of
school, or just not do well in school because o f the
hunger issue, and the Cougar Cave’s purpose is to
theclackam asprint.net
alleviate that problem as much as possible for stu
dents here akCCC,” said Morgan. This terms food
drive runs from Nov. 6 to Dec. 1, and the Cougar
Cave is well-stocked for die upcoming winter term
because of it.
Huge grocery chains haven’t been the only ones to
donate this term, though. Meineke Car Care Center
is running a year-long drive for the Cougar Cave
at their location in Oregon City. ASG’s free-food
market on Thursdays is supported by fresh-food
donations by the Gleaners of Clackamas County, a
Community Food Share.
Students can donate any time during the term,
not only during the food drive. Aside from canned
and boxed foods, donations of hygiene items, shoes,
school supplies, and professional clothing are ap-
predated. One big thing Morgan noticed that they
need is can-openers. Even with all the canned foods
donated, someone coming in with a need might not
be able to open them. Donations can be taken at
the front desk in the ASG office in the Community
Center, or in the Cougar Cave, right across the hall.
Students do work-study or volunteer their time to
oversee the Cougar Gave.
“Some people can sit on the sideline and do
nothing, and, or turn in a can or two, and some
people can go out and ask, and it just takes people to
ask,” Said Truesdell. Supporting the community is
important, and donating to the Cougar Cave is just
one way you can support fellow CCC students.
NOVEMBER 29, 2017