For the last couple weeks, Emporia State and the Emporia community have been combining efforts to raise food donations for Can the Bods. This effort is organized by the Associated Student Government as a competition against Washburn University.
The winner of Can the Bods will get to pie the other student government president in the face. However, the ultimate goal is to help provide struggling students with food, according to Michael Webb, ASG president and senior business administration major.
“My duty is to implement the process on campus, coordinating who’s gonna be working with advertising and identifying different ways that we can engage students, faculty and staff throughout the process,” Webb said. “Speaking with other departments and seeing how we can delegate the responsibilities.”
Dylan Schneider, sophomore elementary education, said that student awareness of the event has grown. “More people know about it this year than about it this year than they have in the past,” Schneider said.
“The signs around the CSI, we’ve been putting a lot of information in the Hornet announcements. (We’re) trying to make sure that everyone knows about it, rather than just those who are actually involved on campus because everyone can donate cans. It’s not just those who are involved on campus. We’re trying to get staff, faculty and all of the student body involved.”
Katie Born, junior elementary education major, said one of the moments throughout this event that’s stuck out to her is when Relay for Life made a big donation. “There was a caravan of cars that came in all full of food,” Born said.
“We helped unload it, and we stocked our pantry. It was pretty bare before that, but then afterwards (it was) completely full. We didn’t even have enough room on the shelves and I just thought that was so awesome that a group of people could come together and bring that much food.”
Webb said he’s looking forward to hopefully pie-ing Washburn’s student government president in the face. “My number one goal is redemption and bringing bragging rights back to our campus,” Webb said.
“The ultimate goal of this competition, regardless of which school wins, is for both of our universities to provide food for our students and stocking both of our food pantries on campus.”
The final count will be next Friday before the football game against Washburn.