Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) of WTAMU are filling the Pedestrian Mall at WT with food, clothes and more in their second annual Fill the Field charity event on March 27 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“Last year we did a Fill the Field at the Buffalo Sports complex and it’s pretty much what the name says,” Rudy Cantu, junior Management major and CORE and Campus service officer for SIFE, said.
“It’s fill the field with humanitarian items, but this year we decided to move it to the Pedestrian Mall.”
The event is an opportunity to give back to the community and help those who are less fortunate, according to senior Finance major and SIFE Co-President Manuel Garcia.
“The goal of the event is to collect non-perishable goods for those who don’t have meals or who don’t have certain things,” Garcia said. “It’s one of those things that’s really sad; seeing people, seeing kids hungry. You don’t wanna see someone like that.”
Fill the Field, sponsored by Walgreens of Amarillo, calls for student organizations and clubs to adopt a square at the Pedestrian Mall and fill it up with humanitarian items such as canned goods, water, clothes, hygiene products and various other items.
“Last year, we collected 5,000 pounds of canned goods alone, 1300 clothing items and about 23,000 hygiene projects,” Cantu said. “We’re trying to either meet these or do more.”
Each item collected will be taken to various organizations in the community, including the High Plains Food Bank in Amarillo.
“Depending on what it is, we give to the Salvation Army, Downtown Women center or there is a group called CareNet [of Amarillo] that we can donate to, that’s baby clothing,” Jean Walker, Miller Professor of Entrapaneurship and SIFE advisor, said.
Awards will also be given out to the group with the most pounds worth of goods in their square and the most creative square.
“Make it creative,” Cantu said. “We also have an award for that. If they wanna do something with their cans and make it creative, their square, they can.
According to the High Plans Food Bank website, over 33,000 children who live in 29 Panhandle counties served by the Food Bank live in food insecurity, a number SIFE members hope to decrease with food collected from the event.
“We’ve been partnering with the high plains food bank for years already,” Garcia said. “We will help them raise can goods for the panhandle because there are so many people in this area that are food insecure…those kids go the bed hungry at night, that’s why they really push peanut butter and different canned goods, so they don’t go to bed on an empty stomach.”
Food is not the only item looking to be donated at the event. SIFE also welcomes free-cycling items such as household, hygiene and clothing products.
“[Free cycling] is an idea that if you can’t use something then you should give it to somebody else who could use it,” Walker said. “Everybody has that handful of things they can pull out of their closet that are almost brand new and somebody else could wear them.”
Garcia said the size of the WT community will help make the event successful.
“It’s WT, so it’s a very close community and if there’s a time to help people, they’re willing to do it,” he said.
Organizations and clubs can pick up a form at the CORE offices in the JBK to reserve a square for the event.
