Management Students' Work Profits Food Bank

School of Management students came through in a big way this fall for clients of the North Texas Food Bank.

A canned food drive sponsored by the 50 undergrad and grad students in the school’s Dean’s Council collected 1,188 pounds of food. That’s enough to provide about 1,520 meals, according to Jerrye Hall, the food bank’s food sourcing coordinator.

“The response was much better than what I had anticipated, and I’m sure the people at the food bank will greatly appreciate it,” says Max Alcala, a sophomore in Management Information Systems.

Alcala, originally from Mexico, says he took part because “people forget too quickly about others.”

“When the media stopped covering (Hurricane) Ike, people suddenly forgot that there were still many people going through hardships. My sister had no electricity for weeks.”

Hunger is an even easier issue to forget about. “This is really a minimal way of contributing and saying, ‘Hey, we still care,’ ” he says.

The Dean’s Council was organized last spring with several goals: to improve communications between School of Management administration and students; to foster a greater sense of community among the school’s approximately 5,000 students; and to create a greater sense of belonging between management students and UT Dallas at large.

Assistant Dean Monica Powell says the group wanted to hold events that brought students together but had a positive impact beyond campus. The result was one of the largest-scale student-driven events ever planned at the School of Management, Powell says.

“I’m pleased with the results – and the students who took part should be pleased with their efforts,” she says.

Alcala says it’s nice knowing that “even one can per person makes a big difference when we all contribute.”

Last year the North Texas Food Bank assisted 50,000 families each month and provided 435,000 meals or snacks each month through its 260 member agencies in 13 North Texas counties.

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