SDSU Yearbook: Aztecs Rock Hunger Food Drive Brings in Record Haul
The annual campaign combats food insecurity on campus and in the San Diego community.
San Diego State University takes a look back to celebrate all the accomplishments of the past year in an SDSU NewsCenter series titled “SDSU Yearbook.” SDSU is an educational leader and a growing research powerhouse with top athletics programs and exceptional, diverse students who lead.
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Aztecs weren’t just breaking records on the basketball court this school year. San Diego State University students topped themselves when it came to the annual Aztecs Rock Hunger fundraiser, which benefits a local food bank and an on-campus pantry.
During a few weeks in October and November, they collected the equivalent of 601,607 pounds of food through a combination of non-perishable foods deposited into red bins across campus and cash contributions, with every $1 counted as six pounds. The sum surpassed last year’s total of 590,503 pounds.
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The campaign has collected more than 3.3 million pounds of food since its inception nine years ago.
Associated Students (A.S.) leads the campus-wide initiative, in collaboration with other campus and community partners including Aztec Shops, Aztec Proud, Residential Education, Housing Administration, SDSU Athletics, Student Affairs and the College Area Business District.
Most donations go to The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank, which fights food insecurity throughout San Diego County. On campus, a portion of the food drive’s proceeds support the A.S. Food Pantry, which distributed more than 111,000 pounds of fresh produce and other food and served 2,607 students last school year.
“What we are doing has a real impact on real students, so we must continue to fight food insecurity on our campus and in our community,” said Dustin Adkins, A.S. vice president of financial affairs.
A portion of the monetary donations also goes to SDSU’s Economic Crisis Response Team to provide short-term and long-term aid to students experiencing food insecurity. This campus-wide network provides emergency support to students facing an economic crisis, such as the sudden loss of housing or an immediate food shortage.
