This spring, all of the Ross Medical Education Center campuses worked hard to collect food items for local food banks and other organizations. The Ross campus in Elyria, Ohio was thrilled to get to host their very first annual food drive. They looked into various organizations in their area, but really wanted to join forces within their community and beyond to make the greatest possible impact against hunger. With this vision in mind, the students and staff decided to donate all the collected non-perishable goods to the Harvest for Hunger campaign.
Harvest for Hunger is an annual statewide campaign that feeds hungry citizens living in 21 of Ohio’s counties. Their goal is to wipe out hunger in the state of Ohio. To that end, they were able to provide nearly 19 million meals for Ohio families in 2015. As a partner in the Harvest for Hunger campaign, the campus set a goal of collecting 140 items to donate, in order to help support the local community. However, due to the overwhelming generosity of the students and staff at the Elyria campus, they were able to donate almost 200 items to the cause! By the end of the drive, the donations weighed in at just over 140 pounds of food! In addition to supporting the Harvest for Hunger campaign, the staff also set up a raffle to increase student’s involvement and generate excitement regarding such an amazing cause.
Students who took part in donating to the Harvest for Hunger campaign were given raffle tickets and entered into a drawing to win a grand prize, which was valued at over $100! The prize included Mary Kay, Yankee Candles, Bath and Body Works, and a variety of tasty snacks to motivate any person, even on the drowsiest of days. The lucky winner of the basket was Daveda Perry, a student in Elyria’s morning Medical Insurance Billing and Office Administration program. When Perry was asked about the prize basket that she won, she pulled out a bottle of hand lotion and said, “this is my favorite!”
The motivation of the basket was such a success but really came in second to the motivation of helping to address the hunger issue in their state and community. It was due to this that the campus was able to meet and surpass their donation goals. The Ross staff was so proud of their students at the Elyria campus who donated to Harvest for Hunger. These students have proven that they are as generous as their futures are bright. Way to go Elyria, keep up the amazing work!
To learn more about Harvest for Hunger and how you can help, visit the Greater Cleveland Food Bank Facebook page or their website at harvestforhunger.org