On Friday, September 7, Redeemer University College once more saw its newest students participate in its annual food drive. Arranged by Redeemer’s Student Life department and overseen by Neighbor to Neighbor, the food drive had Redeemer’s freshmen collecting non-perishable food items from local donors who had been contacted earlier in the week. The charitable nature of the food drive is seen as a positive addition to the orientation program. Redeemer’s Community Coordinator, Steven Dykstra, said “the food drive is a good and creative way to make a difference and get [Redeemer’s freshmen] to know the Ancaster community. Hamilton food banks have been really, really empty this past summer.” Students were grouped into teams, which had been formed at the beginning of the week, and then sent into the Meadowlands neighbourhood where Redeemer student leaders had passed out grocery bags and a flyer the previous week. Once at their assigned locations, these teams were to be on the lookout for brown paper bags of canned food attached with a completed application and placed by the donors on their front porches. Having starting in the late afternoon, the twelve student teams, each represented by a different colour, continued to appear very enthusiastic through the evening despite the constant threat of rain and the long hours pounding on the hard asphalt. One student from team green, Jamie Hanlon, said, “Our team has been excited for this [food drive] and we have great team spirit.” Micah van Dijk, Redeemer’s Orientation and Activities Coordinator, echoed a similar sentiment, noting“[the food drive] is going awesome. The new students are doing great… the neighbors are delivering… it’s really cool to see people responding.” All in all, the food drive amassed 8,376.5 pounds of can food, valued at $20,941.25, surpassing the previous year by more than 1200 pounds and exceeding the goal of 8,000 pounds.