NEWS

CHAPEL HILL -- Come Feb. 25, a lot more than basketball will be at stake between arch rivals at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and N.C. State University.

That's because Carolina students have challenged everyone at State to see which can collect the most canned goods for the Food Bank of North Carolina by that date, the day of the next men's game between the two schools.

"The school that fills up the most barrels wins," said an organizer of the food drive, Derwin Dubose, a UNC freshman from York, Ala. "We hope the results will be ready for announcement at the game that night."

UNC Student Body President Jen Daum will kick off the drive, called "Beat Hunger, Beat State," at 1 p.m. today (Feb. 5) in the Pit, outside the Frank Porter Graham Student Union.

Michael Anthony, her counterpart at State, has accepted the challenge, said Hildy Fong, a UNC senior from Raleigh and co-president of the Campus Y, which is spearheading the drive. The Y, UNC's largest student organization, promotes social justice.

Students asked UNC Chancellor James Moeser to join the fun with a letter to NCSU Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. "I write to challenge you and your student body to join us in this fight against hunger in North Carolina," he wrote. "To encourage school spirit, it has been suggested that you and I agree to a friendly wager: whoever loses must wear the opposing school's clothes for a day. (And our students remind me that it can't be a day when we're off campus.)"

A formal reply is pending, but an NCSU official said the bet is on. Faculty, staff and students are asked to participate, challenging their NCSU counterparts. For example, the UNC Freshman Focus Council, on which Dubose serves, challenged NCSU's freshman class.

As with the chancellor's terms, group challenges come with proposed penances for losers -- awful things, like UNC students having to wear red and dance in the Pit.

Organizations on the two campuses are asked to manage their own collections. The week of the game, collection barrels from the Food Bank will be placed in residence halls, dining halls and other campus locations. At UNC, the main drop-off point will be outside the Campus Y, on Cameron Avenue across from the Old Well.

UNC organizations should bring cans to the Y between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Feb. 24 and 25; Food Bank trucks will collect barrels from both campuses Feb. 25, at 2 p.m. at UNC.

The Food Bank is a nonprofit organization that provides food to people in 34 counties in central and eastern North Carolina. It works with more than 800 partner agencies that include soup kitchens, food pantries and shelters. Kerry Morancy of the Food Bank said the student drive comes at a good time.

"Spring is a critical time of need for the Food Bank to gear up for summer, when donations are traditionally at their lowest," she said. "Competition is always a healthy way of fueling people's interest, and an event like this is overwhelming because it's getting students already excited about a men's basketball game united behind a good cause."

In Raleigh, perhaps, the drive will have a different title. For more information at UNC, call the Campus Y at 962-2333.

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Contact: Hildy Fong, hilfong@email.unc.edu