Each quarter, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences invites students to take a break from the stresses of finals to stop in for coffee, hot chocolate and quick snacks like macaroni and cheese or oatmeal. With no in-person finals this quarter, it wasn鈥檛 going to happen, which gave the three staffers who organize the event an idea.
NOMINATE OTHER AGGIE HEROES
- are current students, faculty and staff who go above and beyond in service to others, give back to the community and inspire others.
鈥淚 asked my team if we could use the budget we typically use and deliver supplies to some resources available on campus,鈥 said Layne DeLorme, student engagement coordinator for Undergraduate Academic Programs.
DeLorme, outreach coordinator Ruby Bal and student leadership coordinator Co Hawes used the $200 budget for the event to make a trip to Trader Joe鈥檚 on Monday (March 16), filling a cart to the brim with soups, trail mix, granola bars, peanut butter pretzels and other nonperishable foods, then added some leftover instant macaroni and other items from their fall study break event. They dropped it all off with the Normally, the donations would have gone to , but, with campus operations suspended, the Aggie Compass has taken on the food distribution program that serves students in need.
鈥淲e were feeling self-conscious about being in the grocery store,鈥 DeLorme said. 鈥淲e looked like we were doomsday prepping or something, but it felt really good to be able to have the autonomy to choose programming at last minute and be flexible.鈥
She said the three staffers were thinking about 鈥減eople who rely on those resources 鈥 how can we help?鈥
After braving the grocery store, DeLorme, Bal and Hawes added stickers encouraging the recipients of the food to be safe and kind to one another, and dropped it all off at the Memorial Union, home of the Aggie Compass and The Pantry.
Food distribution
The Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center is distributing food each Thursday until the campus resumes normal operations. To maintain social distancing, staff will leave bags of groceries outside for each person who preregisters.