Red River Food Fight Recap

And the winner is…OU!! For the past month, the OU Food Pantry and the UT Outpost have been gathering shelf-stable food donations for our respective pantries in a competition to see who can bring in the most food by weight. The competition ended on Saturday, September 30th and the final totals are in! Texas collected 2,865.7 pounds of food, but it was no match for Oklahoma’s 5,213 pounds collected! Thank you so much to everyone who donated. We couldn’t have pulled off this operation without the help of our Campus Engagement and Logistics teams who worked to involve the whole campus in this event and manage such a large quantity of donations!

Featured Teams

Our Campus Engagement team publicizes all OU Food Pantry events on campus, increasing the awareness of the entire OU community about ongoing events. For the Red River Food Fight, this team reached out to residential colleges as well as Greek and student organizations on campus to make them aware of the opportunity to participate in the food drive. Campus Engagement can often be seen tabling on campus especially in high traffic areas like the South Oval to reach as many students as possible. 

Now, introducing the Logistics Team! This team is a crucial part of the OU Food Pantry as they are responsible for all of the back house work. They bag any orders, restock shelves, organize the inventory, and coordinate with volunteer groups to work on large projects. They have also had a significant contribution in the Red River Food Fight! The logistics team has helped tremendously by weighing the food giving us those large competitive numbers. They have also been putting the donations that we have received out on the shelves for client use.  

Most Needed Items This Month

This month, we are focused on getting donations of menstrual products, one of our most needed items. In the state of Oklahoma, 1 in 4 women struggle to afford menstrual products, a basic necessity. The Food Pantry has teamed up with OU Women’s Health Advocacy to create customizable monthly period supply kits for the OU community. These Flow on the Go period packs need your donations more than ever! Drop off any donations at the Food Pantry or use the Amazon link below to donate through our wish list!

Fall Family Weekend!

On Saturday, September 30th, we had our second annual Fall Family Weekend Open House at the pantry. We opened up our space to the OU community on gameday with lots of free food and drinks and a great place to watch football! We had an amazing raffle basket with gift cards and merchandise from stores all over Norman that helped us to raise some needed funds for our pantry. If you weren’t able to make it and still want to contribute, keep reading to learn how to become a reoccurring donor!

Become a Reoccurring Donor

We’re happy to announce that the OU Food Pantry has already been able to serve record numbers of clients this year! In just our first 2 weeks, we were able to serve over 1100 households each of which could include up to 4 people! With your help, we will continue to break records and serve the OU community. However, this increased demand also increases our monthly costs, as we have to purchase the majority of the food given to clients. Your reoccurring donation allows us to prepare for our increasing client base. Any amount is truly impactful, but feel free to use the statistics below for reference.

$10 sponsors a family’s groceries for one week

$35 sponsors a family’s groceries for a whole month

$100 pays for a week of fresh produce for 25 households

We Couldn’t Do It Without Our Volunteers!

This month we are highlighting one of our regular volunteers, Kenzie Debetaz! Kenzie is a weekly volunteer who never fails to have a smile on her face and has gone above and beyond to help around the Pantry, even staying extra hours when she is needed. She always has kind things to say and is always there to assist our clients. 

Thank you Kenzie for your unwavering support for the Pantry and always being a volunteer we can count on! These past few weeks we’ve been serving a record number of households, and they’ve played a huge role in helping us execute our day-to-day operations. Volunteers like Kenzie help the Pantry thrive every day and we can’t thank them enough. We appreciate you so much! If you are interested in volunteering with us, click “More Resources!” down below.

Want to Learn More?

If you are interested in sponsoring, donating, volunteering, or even just want to come see what we do, sign up for a tour of our space and we will show you around and tell you all about it!