A food drive run by Kent Trumbull’s Honors College raised $600 worth of non-perishable food items so far for Warren Family Mission.

In addition to setting up in the Kent Trumbull lobby, the program has paired with the Youngstown Phantoms to collect donations Friday. The Honors College has been collecting donations on the Trumbull campus the week of Nov. 7, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The Warren Family Mission is a non-profit. The donations raised will help participants from Trumbull county and its surrounding areas.

Contributors are incentivized to donate more with the promise of prizes for the estimated highest value donations. Honors College coordinator Laurie Hines recognizes the struggles some students have with food insecurity, making the food drive an event not everyone can afford to participate in.

She is combating this by giving non-perishable food as prizes in class. Students have the option to donate it or keep it for themselves.

“Some students have food insecurity, and we know that, so we don’t want them to rob Peter to pay Paul,” Hines said. “I’m holding a game in my class on Thursday and the prizes are food prizes. I want to make sure all students are able to participate.”

Hines is among multiple faculty members to consider this approach, including associate lecturer Alice Colwell.

Senior psychology major Karly Wireman got involved to help collect donations as part of her Honors College volunteer hours. “I think that it’s a really good cause honestly. It gets people to contribute and be active in the community and everything, and do stuff like this that maybe they otherwise think about or hear about,” Wireman said.

Marissa Lemasters, Honors College at Trumbull Campus Honors Council President, helped get Wireman involved. “She has been doing a lot of the work and she’s been posting a lot of stuff on social media,” Hines said.

Grace Kindl is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].