UT students and staff were given the opportunity to break a world record and help fight hunger by donating canned foods for the Cans Across America event.
On Oct. 18, 460 locations nationwide participated in the event to break a world record of 156,889.34 pounds of canned goods. All donations made went to America’s Second Harvest.
During the event, students and staff could either bring in cans of their own, buy individual cans or exchange a meal from a meal plan. Austin Hall won the resident hall competition. They had 66 students exchange their meal plan for a donation.
According to Wade Burghardt, after only three hours into the event UT had already surpassed their goal of 500 pounds, collecting 2,545.6 pounds by the end of the event.
During the event, UT sophomore J.J. Paolino played the guitar and filled the Caf with recent hits and other favorites, providing some atmosphere for the lunch crowd. Paulino has been trying to perform on campus since he was a freshman but did not have any luck until Burghardt contacted him.
“I’m playing for a great cause,” Paulino said.
WUTV and WUTZ also helped support Cans Across America, challenging students to donate as much as possible. They also rewarded the first 25 people who donated 10 or more items by giving them a free movie ticket.
The 2,545.6 pounds that UT donated made up 1.6 percent of the world record of 156,889.34 pounds.
Sodexho would like to give a special thanks to all of the students for their donations, J.J. Paulino for performing, WUTV and WUTZ for promoting the event, Katrina Vidal and the P.E.A.C.E. office, Cheryl Chernoff and SAO, Krystal Schoffield and Res Life, especially Ms. Tashima Johnson for collecting a total of 81 donations around campus, Dave Brothers and the Office of Public information for their support, Marc Sutherland and America’s Second Harvest.