BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Volunteers at the Bloomsburg Food Cupboard sort food and get it ready for distribution. The food pantry depends on donations and recently got a big one from Bloomsburg University. Students donated more than $8,000 of their unused campus dining dollars to the Bloomsburg Food Cupboard.
"I think it's really great. It's nice that Bloomsburg opens up the town for us to have a college here so it's just nice to give back a little bit to the community," Krysta Hower said.
The donation allowed the campus dining service to buy more than $8,000 worth of food for the Bloomsburg Food Cupboard's weekend backpack program for the Bloomsburg Area School District.
"We have volunteers come and they pack a bag. It's a grocery bag. We send home breakfast, lunch, fruit, vegetables, snack, and bagels," Martha Sheehe said.
The students also cleaned out their dorm rooms and donated more than 3,000 pounds of their own food.
Students say they were happy to help.
"We can actually think of how much more useful it's going to be. If we can't use it, it's going to be donated to the food cupboard. It's going to be used very well either way," Emel Rasim said.
"It's extremely helpful. Plus, it's the kind of food that we don't really buy, like individual cereal boxes and all these individual ones which cost a lot more money," Sheehe said.
Over the last two years, Bloomsburg University students have donated more than $15,000 to the Bloomsburg Food Cupboard.