To give back to SUNY campuses, the SUNY Fellows from System Administration organized a donation drive that helped support seven different campus food pantries during the holiday season.
Fellows Kaitlyn Bertleff, Kalief Metellus and Shay Gauthier contacted food pantries throughout the SUNY system, honing in on what the pantries were in need of leading up to the holiday season. Necessary items included nonperishable goods, personal care products and school supplies.
With the information gathered, donation boxes were set up all throughout the administration building, where people donated items from October to December. To accommodate those working remotely, an Amazon Wish List was created and items were directly delivered to the building to be stored.
The goal of the drive was to donate to a select few campuses just before Thanksgiving. However, the fellows were pleasantly surprised to learn that enough items were donated to make additional donations before Christmas.
As a result, seven pantries each received several large boxes of items which ultimately helped students right before the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks.
Campuses included:
- SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
- SUNY Delhi
- SUNY Oneonta
- SUNY Schenectady
- SUNY Rockland
- SUNY Downstate
- and SUNY Old Westbury
Donating to the campuses was incredibly rewarding for the fellows, as it felt great to give back to the places that provide SUNY students with necessary resources.
As SUNY Schenectady Student Government Association President and food pantry volunteer Jenn Malave said, “There are students that are going through a lot at home and if we can make that just a little bit easier for them, that helps ensure that they will see success and that they’ll graduate.”
