Police challenge WMU students
Nov. 21, 2002
KALAMAZOO -- The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety and the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Department are staging a friendly face-off with Western Michigan University students to help win the battle against hunger.
Representatives from the two police agencies' annual holiday food drives challenged WMU students last week to a competition to collect the most canned, boxed and non-perishable foods. Donations collected during the drive, which runs through Dec. 12, will go to the Greater Kalamazoo Area Holiday Food Drive, which last year provided a week's worth of food to 1,100 families in the Kalamazoo area.
Food drive organizers say they're aiming to feed even more families this year during the holiday season and they hope the competition between police and students will help the cause. In 2001, city public safety officers and county police alone collected more than 3,500 units of food donations.
"It will be fun showing the police what's up," says WMU junior Ben Lando, news director at WIDR, the organization heading the campus drive. "It's not about whether we defeat the police or not, it's about how big a win we score."
KDPS Detective Harold West dismissed Lando's friendly bravado with a smile. "The police agencies always show up strong, donating a lot of food," he says. "I doubt the students can come anywhere close to matching that."
Campus radio station WIDR is looking for other student organizations to help rally the University community. The Western Herald and the Progressive Student Alliance have already signed on as co-sponsors. Students, faculty and staff are asked to make donations through Dec. 12.
Container locations on campus
- Entrance to the Faunce Student Services Building
- Entrance to Waldo Library
- Student Recreation Center
- Bernhard Center information desk
- Wesley Foundation
- Kanley Chapel
For more information, contact Ben Lando at 387-6308 or Harold West at 337-8169.
Media contact: Jessica English, 269 387-8400, jessica.english@wmich.edu