College conducting food drive for Holdrege residents

Thursday, January 25, 2007

McCook Community College hopes to provide vitally needed food relief for Holdrege residents as it hosts an afternoon of college basketball on Saturday.

"We're going to conduct a canned food drive this Saturday," said Dr. Richard Tubbs, CEO of McCook Community College.  "Admission to either the women's game, which starts at 2 p.m. or the men's game which begins at 4 p.m. will be a can of food," he said.

MCC will host Northeast Community College women's and men's basketball teams in conference play in the True Hall Gymnasium.  

 But MCC is not limiting the food drive to just the game attendance.

"We're hoping the community, as a whole will get behind this effort and contribute to the effort, as well," Tubbs said.  

McCook residents may drop off their donations of canned food at the McCook Student Union according to Michele Gill, Area Dean of Student Life. "We think this is a convenient location for everyone who may want to contribute but not necessarily attend the Saturday activities. The Student Union is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

McCook Community College's student organizations, Phi Beta Lambda, MCC's business honorary, and Phi Theta Kappa, MCC's scholastic honorary will be in charge of physically handling the donations.  They will also be in charge of delivering the canned goods to the Phelps County Community Pantry located in the Methodist Church in Holdrege. 

According to Sheela Philips, the Pantry Coordinator, the Red Cross left Holdrege last Friday and handed the demands for providing food back to local groups.  She said that while the major issues, such as power, are back on line, the community is still recovering and the pantry is in deep need of numerous items.  Some of the items she suggested are canned meat, macaroni and cheese, canned fruit, canned vegetables, peanut butter, jelly, tomato and spaghetti sauces, beans, canned soup, and pasta.

"This is an excellent opportunity to help our neighbors and if you are getting a bit "stir crazy,"  we invite you to our McCook Community College campus to watch some excellent basketball," said Dr. Tubbs. "You'll have a great time and we'll help those who could use some help right now," he added.

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