The Beat Bama Food Drive kicked off its 25th year by having a joint press conference with its counterpart from the University of Alabama on the footsteps of the state Capitol building in Montgomery with Gov. Kay Ivey.
However, this is just one of the many ways the friendly competition is raising awareness for food insecurity in Alabama for the year that marks a quarter century of existence.
Robert Powers has been the advisor for service programs since the summer of 2016. In addition to advising Beat Bama Food Drive, he oversees Alternative Student Breaks, Auburn University Dance Marathon, IMPACT and The Big Event.
As part of his role, Powers helps the BBFD student leaders plan out the year for the drive, execute their goals and help them reach out to the campus and community. He helps them connect with the food bank and with Alabama’s half of the competition called Beat Auburn, Beat Hunger.
Powers believes that one of the most important things that the food drive has done differently this year is that students are actively reaching out to the community. He added that the food drive used to focus on campus mainly, but in recent years, they have set their focus on the community as well.
“We’re also not only trying to raise funds, but we’re also trying to raise awareness,” Powers said. “It’s very easy to ask for cans and money, but it’s very important to know why we need it. The food drive this year is doing a better job at educating other students and community on why donating food matters. It’s real food that helps real people.”
Another improvement that Powers harped on for this year is the strong collaboration with the University of Alabama. Besides the joint press conference, the two schools have been working on a joint video, a 25-year graphic and have made a collaborative website. He believes that working together will help beat food insecurity in Alabama efficiently.
One of the additions to this year’s food drive is the Hunger Banquet, which will be held on Oct. 17 at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Center Ballroom. Powers hopes this will provide an experiential-learning opportunity for students.
Students will be given a ticket, which will allow for a meal associated with different socioeconomic levels. In this way, students can experience how poverty impacts Alabama.
“It’s not a fundraising effort,” Powers said. “It’s purely an educational piece. It’s trying to stress why we are donating. The goal is to educate students, and hopefully, they will be able to see it in their every day lives.”
The Beat Bama Food Drive is also having a benefit night at the Tiger Town location and Auburn location all day on Nov. 8. They will also continue to reach out to students on the concourse.
“Twenty-five years — that’s a cool milestone,” Powers said. “A lot of Auburn’s current students weren’t born 25 years ago, which is funny to me. I think the fact that we are working with Alabama and leveraging that rivalry is a good thing. It gets the state and community excited to fundraise and provide a lot of food for those who need it.”
Powers believes that the food drive is important to campus because there are students who are food insecure, but there are also students who may not know what food insecurity is. He also believes it provides an excellent leadership opportunity for students.
“The mission of the food drive is to raise monetary and nonperishable donations for the Food Bank of East Alabama and to raise funds for the food bank,” Powers said. “We are their largest donation. Our donations during the food drive help provide food for the holidays and the winter season. Obviously, we love to beat Bama, but the whole point of the drive is to leverage the rivalry to help those in the state of Alabama that are food insecure.”
Powers said that the 25th year of the Beat Bama Food Drive is important because he believes that it proves that hunger is still an issue in Alabama and that students are still eager to help achieve its mission.
“Specifically in East Alabama, there are people who are still food insecure,” Powers said. “Obviously, we would like to get to a place where they are not, but the food drive has been around for 25 years because it is still needed. The people who benefit from this still need the support that we give them. It also shows that student leadership is strong and has been for a long time.”
According to information Powers provided for The Plainsman, Alabama is the sixth poorest state with 16.5 percent of the population being classified as food insecure. He said that 22.5 percent of children in Alabama are food insecure as well.
“Hunger affects a lot of people,” Powers said. “That’s people at our backyard, students on campus. That’s a lot of people we interact with every day that we do not know.”
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