UTEP Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Delta chapter (ETA Delta AKA), is asking students to donate dry and canned food to go toward low-income schools in El Paso. The food drive started on Feb. 12 and will continue until donation boxes are full.
Biological science major, Destiny Nelson, is the president, financial secretary chairman and IV leaf reporter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. Nelson and her graduate advisor worked together in December and came up with the “Souper Bowl.” The sorority planned for the drive to be a competition amongst UTEP Athletics. Due to scheduling conflicts, the idea of competition fell through. However, this did not stop Nelson from achieving her goal.
Nelson spoke with the head of Fraternity and Sorority life, Anthony Vincent, to see what steps could be taken for the sorority to complete the food drive successfully. The team agreed on the idea of a community service drive. However, the sorority needs to complete mandatory programs, so Nelson chose the Childhood Hunger Initiative Power Pack (CHIPP).
The undergraduates in ETA Delta AKA and the graduate program are working together on the food drive. UTEP’s chapter will receive donations from students, but the graduate chapter will receive donations from El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank.
“We’re collecting them every Friday,” Nelson said. “But we’re going to fill as many bags as we can because we are also collaborating with our graduate chapter.”
With CHIPP, the sorority is providing two breakfasts, two lunches and a snack, fruit, or veggie to the students. The idea to donate the food back to schools is to allow students who may face food scarcity at home to rely on the help of the food donations provided by the chapter.
“We collect those, and we give them to the school because the schools are like the middleman to provide the food for that week, to the child and their families,” Nelson said. “As so if we do that every week, we’ll be able to feed the families for months.”
The sorority has posted the donation boxes at the Union, Memorial Gym, the Athletic Academic Center and the UGLC.
The process to pick a school must go through corporate. They approve which schools need the donations the most. The graduate chapter has chosen Ross Middle School, one of many low-income schools in El Paso. The graduate chapter will be going to Ross to drop off the donations. ETA Delta AKA is planning for the schools to provide donations to the students after school when students head home. Nelson hopes for success so the graduate chapter can continue providing food donations to other schools in El Paso.
ETA Delta AKA hopes to get more students involved by asking for more donations to tackle hunger in El Paso. The sorority has reached a total of 20 donations and six items for each donation pack. The donation boxes will be up on campus until March 10; however, the sorority will still accept donations past that date. To find further information on the donation areas and what can be donated, reach out to @etadeltaaka on Instagram.
Avery Escamilla-Wendell is the staff reporter and may be reached at [email protected] or on Instagram @by_avery_escamilla
