This year’s Aztecs Rock Hunger campaign begins tomorrow, Oct. 17. Once again, Associated Students is partnering up with the Jacobs and Cushman San Diego Food Bank in hopes of feeding more than 32,000 San Diegans.
“It raises awareness for the people in the San Diego County that are living malnourished and don’t have enough food to eat and put on the table each day,” A.S. Community Service Commissioner Kirck Sasaki said.
Last year, SDSU collected approximately 227,000 pounds of food. The goal this year is to collect 250,000 pounds.
“It started as a competition between all of the San Diego universities, and the goal is to raise as much food and awareness about the San Diego State bank and the people who are hungry in our community,” kinesiology sophomore and Chief of Community Service Committees Progress on Aztecs Rock Hunger Delaney Cummings said.
University of San Diego, California; Point Loma Nazarene University; and California State University, San Marcos will also be participating in the fundraiser.
Within SDSU there will be competitions between college councils, student organizations, residence halls, sports teams and sports clubs.
Sasaki said A.S. will encourage the “friendly competition” and will market the campaign though social media.
One way to donate to the committee is by using the online pantry, which allows students to choose how much to donate.
“The past few years San Diego State has always won, so this year we are just trying to market it as best we can so that we can make it an even bigger event and donate even more than we have in the past,” Cummings said. “It’s just really rewarding to see firsthand the people you have helped and just get involved with your school too.”
The last day to donate is Nov. 9.
“I hope students really understand the situation that people in the San Diego community are going through and that we’re pretty lucky as student to be attending San Diego State University and to be in the situation that we’re in.” Sasaki said.
A ceremony to mark the end of the campaign will be held at 11 a.m. on Oct. 18. It will be the first year that the closing ceremony is hosted at SDSU. It was previously held at the Hard Rock San Diego. Both President Elliot Hirshman and the CEO of the San Diego Food Bank will be there to present a plaque to the winning college council.
