The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library hosts a “Can the Cats” food drop off on Nov. 12.
Leo Sperry / Montana Kaimin
Football isn’t the only competition occurring between Montana State University and the University of Montana this weekend. The 26th annual Can the Cats drive is underway, and organizers, students and faculty are hoping to raise more funds and food than the MSU Bobcats.
According to Kat Cowley, who runs ASUM’s Bear Necessitiy and oversees UM’s Food Pantry, funding Can the Cats supports both the Missoula Food Bank and Community Center, along with the UM Food Pantry.
According to Cowley, funding and donations collected on campus stay on campus. This includes funding raised from this year’s raffle item, a quilt made of old Griz t-shirts designed by Tayli Hillyard in the Sustainability Office.
Donations collected on campus are stored at the Missoula Food Bank due to a lack of storage space, but they are brought over as needed. Cowley said one dollar is equivalent to one pound of food.
“If you get asked to donate a dollar when you buy a coffee at the market, those dollars come to us,” Cowley said. “Same if you donate a dollar at concessions at any Griz game coming up, those all come to us. The proceeds from the quilt raffle also will come directly to us.”
Cowley said the food earned through Can the Cats will sustain the center for the next few months and bring in a variety of foods that are not typically donated throughout the year.
“I think we’re gonna get a whole cow again,” Cowley said. “We got a whole cow last year and that meat lasted us from the end of December through early July in our chest freezer, which was very exciting. Meat is really hard for us to procure, and it is in very high demand for future customers. Having good local meat is really exciting.”
The annual food drive comes at a key time for local food pantries already strained due to rising inflation, widespread layoffs, delays and uncertainty about federal food assistance.
A recognized, larger push for donations occurred at the ‘Stuff the Bus’ event on Saturday. Volunteers and campus organizations for the event were stationed at grocery and retail stores in Missoula, collecting food or funds from shoppers.
Taylor McPherson, a third-year environmenal science student from Fairview, was on the Can the Cats planning committee and focused on the Stuff the Bus event and its volunteer coordination. Since last year, McPherson said the number of stores involved has increased from nine to 11, and their goal is to earn 10,000 pounds of food in the four hours of the event, beating the 7,200 pounds they earned last year.
McPherson said planning the event started a long time ago. The first step is to contact student groups on campus. This, she said, created opportunities for student groups to present themselves.
“We’ve started to establish relationships with Greek life, which is really cool,” McPherson said. “A lot of student groups are really eager to volunteer and advertise themselves. I think this is a great chance for people to network.”
Due to a delay in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, McPherson believes people seem more willing to donate to Can the Cats and get involved. She added the delay has also emphasized the importance of their message.
“People are really excited to be involved and support the food bank in any way that they can. I would say that it’s given us more of a mission for Stuff the Bus and given us that extra push to really make a big difference,” she said.
One group that participates in the event is the University of Montana Advocates. According to Advocate co-coordinators Delanie Schultz and Evan McComsey, on Saturday, Advocate volunteers were stationed at the Yokes at the Reserve location with homemade signs.
According to Schultz, the importance of volunteering for the advocates is seen in how they impact the community and support the greater Missoula area.
“As a college town, the community reaches out to the campus, they need them to survive in a way,” Schultz said. “That aspect of being able to be out there and have those conversations and let people be able to see our face and know that, yes, we are students, but we also do care about the greater Missoula community.”
According to Amy Allison, the executive director of the Missoula Food Bank, 11,115 pounds of food and $5,387 in cash were collected on Saturday at ‘Stuff the Bus.’ In total, she said, that is 16,501 pounds/dollars.
“We more than doubled last year’s Stuff the Bus,” Allison said. “We are so thankful for our generous community and the student volunteers at UM for making this happen.”
One element of the drive is the involvement of campus dining in collecting donations. According to Laura Colby, manager of administration and professional development within campus dining, and Trail Bundy, assistant director of strategic marketing within campus dining, the different branches of the dining program help raise funds around campus by asking for donations.
“We collect funds at our POS registers, and this year, we’re doing it at four locations,” Colby said. “The market at University Center, Biz Buzz in Gallagher Business Building, Recess, a coffee shop in the Phyllis J. Washington School of Education and concessions at events in the Adams Center and Washington-Grizzly Stadium are collecting.”
Last year, according to Colby, campus dining raised $4,546 from people donating in cash or credit at registers in these locations. She said dining’s goal this year is to surpass that number, especially since it is a home game.
Bundy said from their perspective, funding is their biggest contribution, as it enables them to fill the gaps with the money raised. This is in part due to their partnerships, such as with Sysco, that allow them to “buy things at a cheaper rate and stretch the dollar further.”
“After conversations with both the Missoula Food Bank and the campus food pantry, funds are the most appreciated because many people may donate things that both those institutions may not need,” Bundy said. “Where we really fit in for campus dining is what each of those departments needs. Say if we need to buy baby formula with our buying power, we can purchase those items for both of those locations.”
At the end of the drive, goods are brought back to the Missoula Food Bank and sorted between wet and dry items. Various volunteers from UM helped to unload buses and organize food, highlighting the importance of the collaboration.
“It is a game changer for us,” Jessy Lee, the director of development at the food bank, said.
She said the Missoula Food Bank is hoping to bring in 650,000 pounds or dollars worth of donations, which will help the bank fill their shelves through the spring and get them through the holiday season. She said this year, lots of logistics were required due to over 200 food drives around Missoula.
Lee also said Can the Cats has helped support the 7,900 Missoulians who rely on SNAP benefits. This has made the food bank more motivated to achieve their goal to ensure food options for customers are available, and has emphasized their mission more.
“I’m really hopeful that we are going to Can the Cats this year,” Lee said.
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