Quick Summary
- Food drives to be held at two basketball games
- Help fund gift baskets for pets of homeless people
- Toy drives: Online now, on campus next week
- ‘Stuff the Bus’ with food next month
Update Dec. 5: Between the football game and two basketball games, cross-Causeway rivalry contests between UC Davis and Sacramento State drew 750 pounds of food donations this year.
Separately, the women’s basketball game on Sunday (Dec. 10) will feature a toy drive organized by the Coalition for African Diaspora Student-Athletes.
Aggies all around campus are getting into the giving spirit, and you can join them. Here‘s a look at current and upcoming food and toy drives.
Food drives across the Causeway
Chancellor Gary S. May encouraged the season of giving with a friendly competition between himself and Sacramento State President Luke Wood over the weekend: The leader of the losing team at the Causeway Classic football game would donate to the opposing university’s food pantry.
Each led their university’s team onto the field on a rainy Saturday (Nov. 18), shaking hands to agree to their competition before the coin toss.
UC Davis pulled off an upset victory over Sacramento State, 31-21, and both Wood and May agreed to follow through on the competition. May will donate to Sacramento State’s Associated Students Inc. Food Pantry and Wood will donate to The Pantry of Associated Students of UC Davis.
Donation bins were set up in UC Davis Health Stadium so attendees could join in and donate nonperishable food items. That will continue at the upcoming Causeway Classic women’s basketball game (Nov. 21, at Sacramento State) and men’s basketball game (Nov. 26, at UC Davis). Donations — bolstered by a monetary contribution from sponsor Mother Lode Van & Storage — will be split between UC Davis and Sacramento State’s food pantries.
Mercer Clinic: Giving goodies to pets
Now is the time to donate for the Mercer Veterinary Clinic’s annual gift basket program for pets of people experiencing homelessness. The clinic, hosted each month by UC Davis veterinarians and students, distributes 130 gift baskets with treats and toys each year, plus more than 500 pet coats and pet sweaters year-round.
Donations are being accepted online.
Toy drive starts Nov. 27
Following a food drive that collected 2,101 pounds of food from offices at UC Davis Health and 921 pounds of food from UC Davis, Mail Services is looking ahead to its annual toy drive.
Similar to the food drive, participants can place a new, unwrapped toy in their office’s outgoing campus mail bin — or one of the blue toy donation bins located throughout campus — and Mail Services will collect them for donation to the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program in Yolo County.
The toy drive starts Monday (Nov. 27) and runs through Dec. 15.
“Supply Chain Management is grateful to everyone who donated to help stock the ASUCD and Health food pantries,” said Crystal Ross O’Hara, a client relationship manager with Supply Chain Management.
Donate online for hospital toy drive
The annual toy drive for the UC Davis Children’s Hospital is live now, and donations can be made online.
Stuff the Bus on Dec. 16
Unitrans is again partnering with the Davis Food Co-Op to “Stuff the Bus” — that is, to fill a double-decker bus with food and other household items to be donated to The Pantry.
Media Resources
Cody Kitaura is the editor of Dateline UC Davis and can be reached by email or at 530-752-1932.