Pellissippi State Community College collected nearly 50,000 food items for the Tennessee Board of Regents’ 26th annual food drive challenge winning the statewide competition.
Of the 49,470 equivalent items collected, roughly 8,000 were food items, almost 3,000 were school supplies and more than 1,600 were household and hygiene items. Pellissippi also raised $20,636.50 in cash donations.
Pellissippi State did well in winning, said Sandra Davis-Bullis, a specialist in Pellissippi State’s Student Care and Advocacy office. “And we have lots of great supporters. It’s great how all our departments work together to support the Pellissippi Pantry.”
She thanked partners like the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Regions Bank and pointed to donations from the college’s annual Pellidays Around the World Event and the Student Recreation Center’s Wild Goose Chase 5K race.
All the food items and monetary donations support the Pellissippi Pantry, which dispenses food, clothing and other basic necessities at no-cost to the college community.
“If you can come and shop in the pantry, you can use that money you would spend at the grocery store on gas or books – you might take your kids to the movies,” Davis-Bullis said. “The money that you saved by getting groceries at the pantry is money you can use toward something else.”
During the food drive, Pellissippi State packed and distributed 150 meals for Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in November 2024 and provided hundreds more for students during finals.
Many students at Pellissippi State are experiencing economic difficulties and food insecurity, as proven by registrations for the Pellissippi Pantry increasing from 93 in fall 2023 to nearly 200 in fall 2024.
It’s important that donations continue even following the success of the food drive, said Christian Lockhart, director of Student Care and Advocacy at the college.
“Students are accessing the resources that are built into Pellissippi State to help them be successful” Lockhart said. “We want to try to meet them there, and they’re going to get loving, caring faces in this place.”
Tennessee’s community and technical colleges donated or collected the equivalent of 110,851 food items during the TBR food drive, all of which will go to campus pantries and local food programs in the community.
More than 1.8 million items of food and funds have been donated and collected since the program was founded in 1999 by the community colleges’ student government presidents.
Find more information about how to access or donate to the Pellissippi Pantry.
Pellissippi State Community College is a public community college based in Knox and Blount counties in Tennessee and operated by the Tennessee Board of Regents. The college operates four campuses: Hardin Valley, Blount County, Strawberry Plains and Magnolia Avenue.
