ELAC food drive helps the needy during the holiday season
By Zasha Hayes
To support East Los Angeles College students Turkey Trot, an interactive event for those at ELAC, was held on Thursday at the ELAC stadium.
To unify the faculty and students of ELAC, the Kinesiology Department created the event named Turkey Trot.
Students and faculty who were willing to give to those in need at ELAC donated to the annual food drive held at the Turkey Trot on Thursday at 11:30 p.m.
The club who spearheaded the event was the Kinesiology Cub; the adviser of the club is a current Professor of kinesiology department, Rick Gamboa, 63. The event was a full departmental effort.
Along with the sports department at ELAC, the campus police secure the event, the Training Medical Staff are at the event for any emergencies, Arroyo Vista Family Health Center lent a hand in the Trot and NutriShop also participated in handing out drinks for those who needed hydration. Most of the faculty chipped in for the event.
The people participating in the trot can range from as many as 500 to 700. It has rapidly grown from the 250 to 300 people who had originally participated at the event.
Anybody who was willing to participate was welcome at the Trot and encouraged to donate for the drive.
Gamboa, the director of the event, says recently donations have grown to great amounts.
“We had maybe about 250-300 runners, and we filled my SUV with a bunch of food, and we went off campus and delivered it to a couple of food pantries…the idea is that if a student, regardless of the major, that if they need food that they have at least somewhere on campus that they can get and get something to eat and something they can take back home.”
To begin the event, donations are taken about two weeks to a month in advance. Anything from canned to packaged food is accepted for the support of students in.
After the event, the donated food goes toward ELAC students, the food is taken to the food pantries at ASU, EOPS, the English Department, and the Sports Department.
During the event, a 1.5 mile run-walk that starts at the track and travels through the campus only to circle around and end back at the track. Interactive fitness activities are also held for those who don’t want to run or walk.
Raffles are held after the run with prizes such as pants, hats, and shirts from the coaches of the sports at ELAC.
For students who chose to participate and donate for the event, extra credit was given out as a form of thanks.
As staff in the event, Eric Guevara says, 26, “I offered my services so I could help out the community, you know, help him out in a sense of giving back to our community and what we can do for ourselves and everybody together.”
A student at ELAC and member of the Kinesiology Club, Rebecca Miramontes, agrees with Guevara and encouraged others to participate in the event, “The event is really opening, participants are welcomed in the front of the stadium not only there but they have the guidance to come inside.”
Next year both students would like to see more volunteers and participants in the event not only on the Monterey Park campus, but the South Gate campus too, as Guevara said, “…an outreach of more people would be an improvement.”
To unify the faculty and students of ELAC, the Kinesiology Department created the event named Turkey Trot.
Students and faculty who were willing to give to those in need at ELAC donated to the annual food drive held at the Turkey Trot on Thursday at 11:30 p.m.
The club who spearheaded the event was the Kinesiology Cub; the adviser of the club is a current Professor of kinesiology department, Rick Gamboa, 63. The event was a full departmental effort.
Along with the sports department at ELAC, the campus police secure the event, the Training Medical Staff are at the event for any emergencies, Arroyo Vista Family Health Center lent a hand in the Trot and NutriShop also participated in handing out drinks for those who needed hydration. Most of the faculty chipped in for the event.
The people participating in the trot can range from as many as 500 to 700. It has rapidly grown from the 250 to 300 people who had originally participated at the event.
Anybody who was willing to participate was welcome at the Trot and encouraged to donate for the drive.
Gamboa, the director of the event, says recently donations have grown to great amounts.
“We had maybe about 250-300 runners, and we filled my SUV with a bunch of food, and we went off campus and delivered it to a couple of food pantries…the idea is that if a student, regardless of the major, that if they need food that they have at least somewhere on campus that they can get and get something to eat and something they can take back home.”
To begin the event, donations are taken about two weeks to a month in advance. Anything from canned to packaged food is accepted for the support of students in.
After the event, the donated food goes toward ELAC students, the food is taken to the food pantries at ASU, EOPS, the English Department, and the Sports Department.
During the event, a 1.5 mile run-walk that starts at the track and travels through the campus only to circle around and end back at the track. Interactive fitness activities are also held for those who don’t want to run or walk.
Raffles are held after the run with prizes such as pants, hats, and shirts from the coaches of the sports at ELAC.
For students who chose to participate and donate for the event, extra credit was given out as a form of thanks.
As staff in the event, Eric Guevara says, 26, “I offered my services so I could help out the community, you know, help him out in a sense of giving back to our community and what we can do for ourselves and everybody together.”
A student at ELAC and member of the Kinesiology Club, Rebecca Miramontes, agrees with Guevara and encouraged others to participate in the event, “The event is really opening, participants are welcomed in the front of the stadium not only there but they have the guidance to come inside.”
Next year both students would like to see more volunteers and participants in the event not only on the Monterey Park campus, but the South Gate campus too, as Guevara said, “…an outreach of more people would be an improvement.”