7:18 a.m., Nov. 19, 2009----The Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at the University of Delaware wrapped up its annual North American Food Drive on Saturday, Nov. 14, collecting a total of 10,730 pounds of food -- 2,849 pounds of non-perishable food items and $1,420 in monetary donations that will translate to 7,881 pounds of food.

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The total amount of food and donations will go to the Food Bank of Delaware.

Tommy Stackhouse, vice president of external affairs for Lambda Chi Alpha, explained that the organization chose the Food Bank of Delaware because “they have a lot of different volunteer opportunities and I figured if we helped them out, they could give us a lot of cool activities to do with them, and we could build a strong relationship.”

The fraternity held several events for the food drive, including a concert they co-sponsored with Alpha Sigma Alpha on Sept. 14 titled “Concert for a Cause,” featuring the band Badfish, in which they raised $280 for the food drive.

Lambda Chi Alpha also held two food drive competitions with the May B. Leasure and Gallaher elementary schools.

Stackhouse explained that during the elementary school food drives, “students were sent home with letters to their families asking to donate non-perishable food towards the drive. Then, we said that the classrooms that collected the most food would be rewarded with pizza parties and extended recess. Kids loved it, and we raised a ton of food through their efforts.”

The fraternity also held their annual bag drop around the Newark community, where they spent three straight Saturdays dropping off letters asking for food donations and then coming back the next week to collect any donations that families gave.

Stackhouse explained, “As far as side projects, we held fundraisers at both Grotto's and California Tortilla in which a certain percentage of their profits went towards our cause. We also set up a Paypal account on our fraternity Web site for outside donors.”

Lambda Chi Alpha has been involved with the North American Food Drive for 16 years, with every chapter of the fraternity across America involved. Last year, the collective fraternal brothers raised nearly 3 million pounds of food to benefit hunger shelters across America.

As far as past and future philanthropic efforts, Stackhouse explained, “In the past our chapter has donated money towards the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation and some other local organizations. This semester we have no more large events planned, but we are looking forward to making plans for next semester, in which we plan on donating money to help out UDance.”