SUNY Oneonta Students Donate Record Amount Of Food

If you pay attention, you'll discover that between Oneonta's two colleges: Hartwick and SUNY Oneonta, students are contributing to the Greater Oneonta community throughout their school year in a variety of ways. Most recently, at the end of the college semester, a record amount of donated food was collected from SUNY Oneonta students which was then transported to The Lord’s Table, a community feeding ministry through St. James Episcopal church on Elm Street in Oneonta.

via SUNY Oneonta
Sodexo driver Kyle Wikoff and bakery supervisor Eryn Rathmell prepare the donated food items for delivery to The Lords Table

The Lord's Table volunteers serve hot meals to community members in need every weeknight (some holiday exclusions) from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm. There is also a community food pantry as well which is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to Noon.

According to SUNY Oneonta officials, because of the generosity of SUNY Oneonta students with the recent food donations, The Lord's Table and food pantry is well stocked to serve easily throughout the summer and perhaps even up to six months. The amount donated is the equivalent of around $6,700 worth of nonperishable food items. They had so much donated that The Lord's Table was able to support some other food pantries in the Laurens, Edmeston, and Richfield Springs areas.

According to Field Marketing Specialist for Sodexo at SUNY Oneonta Joanna Foti, "most of the donated food was purchased by students using leftover 'Dining Dollars,” which can be carried over from the fall to spring semester but not from spring to the next school year. The students could have chosen to use those leftover Dining Dollars to purchase food to bring home to their families but instead took the time to purchase and donate the food instead.

In addition to all that SUNY Oneonta students donated at the end of the spring semester, last semester, students donated about $2,000 worth of food as part of Sodexo’s Stop Hunger initiative which also helped The Lord’s Table continue to serve the community, after all, it's a very busy place!

On average, according to Marcia Hoag, St. James’ director of Feeding Ministries, The Lord's Table serves about 80 people a night, or around 400 people a week. You can imagine how reliant this program is on food donations!

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Congratulations to SUNY Oneonta for a job well done!

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