For the past few years The Recreation Advisory Board, with help from employees of The Oakland Recreational Center, has collected goods via their Holiday Canned Food Drive for Thanksgiving. This year donations will go to The Baldwin Center.

Leah Dupuie, graduate assistant of the fitness and wellness center, said that while the RAB and employees of the Recreational Center are the main donors in the food drive, students are encouraged to take part as well.

“Everybody, even non-students are able to participate in the canned food drive itself,” she said. “We have information posted around the Recreation Center and we’re going to be setting up boxes where people can drop off canned foods.”

Lauren Rimmell, marketing assistant for the Campus Recreation department, notes that donations may be any type of canned food, as long as it is non-perishable.

“Anything that comes in a can is what we are looking for,” Rimmell said. “It doesn’t have to be anything holiday specific, it doesn’t have to be food for just Thanksgiving — we’re looking for any canned food.”

The RAB has been taking part of the canned food drive for at least five years, according to Dupuie. She said that the canned food drive is one of at least three philanthropic activities the RAB participates in.

“Two of the philanthropic activities, we try to do where everybody that comes into the Rec. Center can help out with,” she said.

In addition to the canned food drive, the RAB will be participating in an Adopt-A-Family program, where the RAB and each department of the Recreational Center collect change from all the employees.

According to Rimmell, money will be collected by Dec. 13 and used to purchase items that will be given to those families adopted by the Recreational Center.

“The family consists of a single mother of one and she gave us a wish list of things she would like for Christmas,” Dupuie said. “We will use the money to purchase housing needs and presents for the mother and the child.”

To find out more about how you can make food or monitory donations for these charitable causes, visit the Recreational Center on campus, or visit their Facebook page by searching, “OU Campus Recreation.”