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Stuff the Bus 2010 on the WIU-Macomb campus. Photo by WIU Visual Production Center
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The Stuff the Bus 2011 food drive at Western Illinois University is slated for Wednesday, Nov. 9. You can RSVP on Facebook via the "Sodexo Dining Center at Western Illinois University" event at www.facebook.com/
event.php?eid=263887550319290.
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Sodexo and WIU Volunteers "Trick the Town" for "Stuff the Bus"

October 17, 2011

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MACOMB, IL – You may have noticed a bag hanging on your front doorknob last week. Placed there by volunteers from Western Illinois University, these bags were distributed so Macomb residents can make non-perishable food donations in them for the "Trick the Town" part of the "Stuff the Bus" 2011 event (slated for Nov. 9).

According to Eva Galbraith, marketing manager for Sodexo Campus Services at WIU (sponsor of Trick the Town and Stuff the Bus food drive), in place of bags of candy, these WIU volunteer "trick or treaters" are seeking your help in filling bags with non-perishable food items, which will be stuffed on a Go West bus on the WIU-Macomb campus on Wednesday, Nov. 9. Galbraith noted this is the sixth year Sodexo has organized Western's part in this Helping Hands Across America event and the fourth year Sodexo has implemented the event with the "Stuff the Bus" theme.

Galbraith said the WIU students, representing 19 student organizations, will return to your porch sometime between 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22 to pick up the bags that are (hopefully) filled with your donations. All the food collected during the Trick the Town event will be donated to three great causes.

"The Resident Assistant Council at WIU needs groceries to prepare the annual Macomb's Salvation Army Thanksgiving dinner, and Western's Black Student Association works with local organizations to compile a list of local families in need and then assembles astounding Thanksgiving baskets, complete with turkeys and all the fixings, to create a wonderful Thanksgiving feast that every family should be able to gather around the table for," Galbraith explained.

She added the remainder of the food will be donated to Macomb's own Loaves and Fishes, Etc., food pantry. Galbraith also noted that Trick the Town is only the first portion of the upcoming Stuff the Bus 2011 event.

"Go West has been the venue for this event for the past four years, and during that time more than 50,000 pounds of food have been collected," Galbraith said. "Sodexo Campus Services, the food-service provider on Western's campus, sponsors the event and our management team works closely with the students living in the residence halls and with campus affiliated organizations for Stuff the Bus. Last year, we had 400 volunteers staffing tables at area businesses collecting donations."

For more information, contact Galbraith at (309) 298-1982 or eva.galbraith@sodexo.com, or visit Sodexo Dining Center at Western Illinois University on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sodexodining.wiu.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing