Nicholls Can! is well underway and hopes are high to expand this event to be bigger and better than ever.
Jean Donegan, head of the art department, is in charge of the canned food drive, and she has high hopes for the expansion of Nicholls Can!
“Last year we collected 12,200 cans, and we are hoping for a lot more this year when we count on Monday,” Donegan said.
According to Donegan, the main goal is to have enough cans for every student at Nicholls, which is about 6,000 cans total and less than half of the number of cans collected last year.
The cans are going to the six food banks located in the Nicholls service area, according to Donegan. These include banks in Dulac, Morgan City, Thibodaux, Raceland, Houma and Galliano.
Can Wars was just added to the food drive last year, and Donegan hopes that it will soon become a huge event in coming years. The event was originally created to promote Nicholls Can! and to hopefully boost the number of cans that are donated annually.
Last year, the Nicholls Can Can 5K during the Louisiana Swamp Stomp Festival was in direct affiliation with the drive. Runners were asked to donate cans. This year, part of the registration fee from the run goes to Nicholls Can! to further help them achieve their goals.
Bobby Dufrene, Student Government Association treasurer, is in charge of Nicholls Can Wars this year.
“There was one more team this year than last year, but next year we are looking to make the event bigger among all of the student organizations,” Dufrene said.
The winner of the Can Wars was the Art Club, who won most creative sculpture with their living room setup made up entirely of cans. The National PanHellenic Council tied with Tau Kappa Epsilon for most school spirited sculpture.
“I think that it was so cool that the fraternities incorporated their philanthropy into their sculptures,” Dufrene said.
According to Donegan, a lot more events will be added in the near future to make the food drive more exciting for all Nicholls’ students, such as races and games.
Mary Sauce, SGA director of public relations, has helped to put up a lot of the flyers and signs around campus for the Can War. SGA has also put drop off boxes in all of the residence halls and departments.
“Can Wars is put on by SGA individually,” Sauce said. “We wanted to get students more excited about helping the less fortunate and donating cans to exceed what was collected last year.”
Nicholls will find out on Monday how many cans were collected total and nonperishable food items will be accepted until then.