Toe Collins ‘26 arrived at the North Dodge HyVee on Saturday, ready to collect goods from shoppers. Other volunteers from Student Senate joined him, and just a few blocks away, more Student Senate members were stationed at the First Avenue HyVee. Their purpose? Carrying out a food drive to serve their community.

“We spent weeks previously organizing, with help from a small committee at Student Senate, and then we cleared our schedules for this weekend so that we were able to fill in for any canceled volunteer slots, set up the collection stations, and transport donations,” said Alma Bhandary-Narayanan ‘26.

Student Senate, with the project led by Collins and Bhandary-Narayanan, organized the hunger drive for the local CommUnity Food Bank, an organization that has operated as a crisis center and food bank for decades in the Iowa City area. By giving donations from the food drive to CommUnity, the organization can carry on with their mission of distributing food to those in need. 

The food drive collected 1,655 pounds of food, making it CommUnity’s largest food drive from an outside organization, such as a high school, ever. Other donations beyond non-perishable food included cash and supplies like diapers.

“We wanted to head up this project because it was fun, charitable, and helps people. We’re hoping to be elected co-presidents [of Student Senate] next year, so we want to make sure we have experience taking the lead on important projects at City High,” said Collins.