A 2019 study conducted by the California State University system found that around 30 percent of its students don’t know when they’ll have their next meal. These students tend to have lower grades and struggle with more mental health issues.
With their annual food drive, San Diego State students hope to keep their classmates fed.
SDSU's Associated Students Vice President of Financial Affairs Dustin Adkins says in the last decade, their food drive has raised more than 2.7 million pounds of food.
“We’ve been able to have our own on-campus food pantry that last year [give] out over 111,000 pounds of food,” Adkins said.
This year’s food drive, Aztecs Rock Hunger, has the goal of collecting 619,000 pounds of food. Twenty percent of donations, including both food and money, goes to the university’s Economic Crisis Response Team. The other 80 percent goes to San Diego Food Bank.
“That’s gonna be for students who are facing food and housing insecurities, hooking them up with food vouchers and things like that, whatever they may need,” Adkins said.
The SDSU food drive runs through November 10. Students and community members can deposit nonperishable food in large red bins throughout campus. Monetary donations can be made online and by Venmo @aztecsrockhunger2019.
