NCSSM food drive tries to break record

Students at the N.C. School of Science and Math will combat hunger, using a Guinness World Record as inspiration.

On March 5 from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., the school will get a second chance to break the Guinness World Record for the most food ever collected by a non-charitable organization during a 24-hour period.

NCSSM fell short of beating the record last year, but hopes this time around will be different.

The current record is 509,147 pounds and was set by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in partnership with Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank in Canada.

“Our goal is to fight hunger in North Carolina,” said Sagar Shukla, student body president at NCSSM.

“It’s to promote community service in our school.”

The idea for the food drive was inspired by one residence hall’s “world records” theme last year.

Students first attempted to set a record for the largest gathering of nerds, but Guinness rejected the idea, said Sue Anne Lewis, food drive coordinator for NCSSM.

Lewis said the students decided to host a food drive instead.

“We have been much more organized in the way we have approached it this year,” Shukla said.

The school is partnering with local businesses like Walmart and Chick-fil-A, who will be holding their own food drives and delivering the donations to NCSSM.

UNC-CH’s student government has also committed to helping the school by collecting 30,000 pounds of non-perishable food.

UNC students can donate through bins set up in the student government suite in the annex to the Student Union.

The food collected will be donated to The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

“This is such a big thing for us,” said Linda Fisher, special events and food drive coordinator at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

“It comes at a time when we really need it.”

The food bank serves 34 counties in North Carolina.

“If we beat the Guinness World Record that amount of food will not last one week because the need is so great,” Lewis said.

More than 500,000 people are at risk of hunger in those 34 counties alone and 30 percent of the households have at least one working adult, she said.

Donations will also be taken online at www.ncssm.edu/fooddrive until midnight Feb. 27.

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