Rather than a standard entry fee, attendees of the Spring Green and Gold Game will be asked to donate one non-perishable food item or monetary contribution for the Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County (SLO Food Bank).
Bins for food donations and small monetary donation boxes will be dispersed throughout Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
As a senior project, a group of business seniors worked with the Cal Poly Athletics Department to incorporate a charity event promoting the football game. The seniors chose SLO Food Bank because the organization needs a lot of help this time of year, business administration senior Jorja LaBarre said.
“A lot of people focus on doing drives during the holidays, and this time of year, everything donated during the holidays is kind of diminished,” LaBarre said. “So we’re working on giving them some money since it’s kind of forgotten about.”
SLO Food Bank supplies food to homeless shelters, schools and different agencies around the county. According to its website, approximately 44,000 citizens, or one in six members of the community, are considered “food insecure” in San Luis Obispo County. The organization was excited at the opportunity to gather donations at Cal Poly, LaBarre said.
Although a food drive usually emphasizes canned donations, the food bank actually prefers monetary donations, LaBarre said.
“A dollar goes a long way, and it’s better for the food bank to get money rather than the actual nonperishable food item,” LaBarre said. “They’re able to purchase food through their network at a lot lower cost, and they can buy dairy products and fresh produce that normally people wouldn’t be able to donate.”
This year, the group of seniors hopes 3,000 attendees will donate to the food drive, business administration senior Sloan Pettersen said.
“Since it’s the Spring Game, it’s not part of the season, so we’re able to make it a donation rather than selling tickets during a normal season,” she said.
Three thousand donators is a high goal, Pettersen said, but the group is anticipating a better turnout than last year when the Wildflower Collegiate Championships for the Cal Poly Triathlon Team landed on the same weekend. Helping the food bank will be rewarding with more people contributing, she said.
“Even just $1 goes so far,” Pettersen said. “It’s really kind of meaningless to an individual. I don’t think I would notice $1 missing from my wallet.”
Electrical engineering senior Benny Ng said he looks forward to watching the football game as well as helping the cause.
“It’s easy to forget we don’t live in the wealthiest community when we’re so busy with school,” Ng said. “It’s nice to know my money will go to a good cause.”
Raffle tickets will also be sold to auction off prizes in hopes of collecting more donations. After the game, SLO Brewing Co. will host a “5th Quarter” afterparty. A quarter of the proceeds from purchased food and beverages between 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. will be donated to the SLO Food Bank.