The Ross Medical Education Center Roosevelt Park, Michigan campus showed again how important the Ross Core Value of Social Responsibility is to them personally. Instead of doing a traditional food drive before Thanksgiving, they decided to take it one step further and help with a specific need in their community. Food and More is an outreach program supported by Ferry Memorial Reformed Church in Montague, Michigan. Amanda Holman, a member of the church and the Career Services Student Support Representative in Roosevelt Park, saw an opportunity for Ross students and staff to partner with Food and More and collect cans of condensed soup in an event called “Simply Soup for the Struggling.”
Every November, Food and More volunteers and members of the Ferry Memorial Reformed Church congregation gather on a Saturday morning and pack cardboard boxes full of food and other necessities for local families in need. In addition to everything needed for Thanksgiving dinner, these boxes also contain enough other food items to feed an entire family for a week, and also include other necessities like toilet paper, paper towel, light bulbs, and other similar items. Each box ends up weighing over 60 lbs after it’s packed. Once the boxes are packed, volunteers load them up into their vehicles and drive them to local families in need.
Toni Hamilton, Career Development Representative, and Amanda Holman spearheaded the “Simply Soup for the Struggling” drive throughout the month of October and the first week of November. All students and staff members were asked to bring in at least two cans of soup per person, per week. If they donated 12 cans or more, their names were written on blank soup labels and displayed above the growing collection in recognition. The campus was able to collect over 750 cans of soup to donate to the Thanksgiving boxes from Food and More. Dean Lohman, who runs Food and More, was very grateful for the donation from Ross staff and students. He said that they were able to save Food and More almost $400 with their donation. “Working with Amanda Holman as a contact at Ross was a pleasure and we feel we share the same commitment to serve our communities. Thanks again for your generosity.” The Roosevelt Park campus is excited to partner with Food and More again next year!