PRSSA Food Drive Sees Widescale Success

The dontations from the PRSSA food drive en route to Dutchess Outreach. Janie Casavant '29

A two-week long friendly competition between several communications classes played out for a rather noble cause: fighting food insecurity.

From Oct. 5-24, Marist University’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter organized a food drive competition between seven communication classes. By the end of the food drive, 124 non-perishable food items were collected. 

The goal of the event was to give back to the local community in Poughkeepsie. It was the first time Marist’s PRSSA chapter participated in a food drive.

“We were excited to achieve such a successful outcome,” said Janie Casavant ‘29, director of chapter advancement for PRSSA.

All items collected were donated to Dutchess Outreach. According to Casavant, the nonprofit was very appreciative of the donations. Casavant emphasized that Dutchess Outreach was in need of donations and was experiencing long lines of people waiting at their food pantry. 

“I think that it can be easy to get lost living inside a bubble on campus and only be concerned with things that are going on in our own busy lives,” Casavant said. “This can cause the Marist community to forget that just around the corner there are people who are living in very different realities.”

The classes that participated in the competition were chosen by members of PRSSA. They reached out to the communication professors they felt would be most willing to participate in this competition and professors had the option to opt in or out of the competition. In the end seven classes participated in the food drive.   

Dr. Amanda Damiano’s COM333 class came in first place with a total of 21 items collected. The class received Dunkin’ Donuts as their winning prize. Three classes tied for second place and all received Munchkins. 

The idea for the food drive was inspired by a national PRSSA initiative, “Nourish to Flourish: Fighting Food Insecurity.” The chapter thought a competition would be an engaging way to encourage students to donate. 

“I think that if we have the means to help others, we should always give back and consider how small our own problems are compared to others,” said Casavant.