In the spirit of community and in preparation for the winter months, Lambda Chi Alpha hosted its 19^th annual North American Food Drive on Saturday.

The fraternity has worked with the Murray Calloway County Need Line for several years to provide food for the community. Tonia Casey, director of the Calloway County Need Line, said she has had the pleasure of working with Lambda Chi for the last 12 years and this year has been just as good as previous years.

“This year’s Lambda Chi Food Drive is a true success,” Casey said. “It is always a blessing for the brothers to go above and beyond the call of duty each year to help stock the Need Line Pantry for families in need. I believe that even with the struggling economy and rising unemployment, the brothers and this community stepped up this year to insure a stocked pantry is ready for the cold winter months.”

Casey said each month Need Line provides groceries to approximately 900 Murray – Calloway County families and individuals who face ‘food insecurity’. She said without support from individuals – churches and organizations like the Food Drive from Lambda Chi – Need Line would not be able to meet the need.

JC Aponte, sophomore Lambda Chi member from Clarkesville Tenn., said numerous businesses who donated to the food drive include New Life Christian Bookstore, Primary Care, Pizza Pro and Murray Bank.

“We had bags picked up from residents all over the city,” Aponte said. “We had numerous cans donated from each sorority, numerous businesses also donated and in the end we raised around 7,000 pounds of food.”

Lambda Chi donated enough to feed approximately 3000 individuals, three meals for three days. Don Robertson, vice president of Student Affairs, said Lambda Chi displayed good citizenship in their work for a genuine need in the community.

“They are actually going out and working and collecting and not just giving money,” Robertson said. “That’s the kind of service that in my mind is more beneficial than throwing a party, raising money and donating the money. They are actually working in the community.”

Lambda Chi also incorporated the help of a couple sororities by playing a game in which the sorority’s presidents were kidnapped and forced to rally their sisters in search of 100 cans of food. The first sorority to collect 100 cans, they were told, would receive $100 towards their philanthropy.

Rachel Heller, president of Alpha Sigma Alpha, said the presidential hostage stunt was a fun idea to get the sororities involved.

“I received a knock on my residential college door and when I opened it, there were two brothers standing outside,” Heller said. “The whole thing was a fun idea and the guys were very kind.”

Story by Alex Berg, Staff writer