(Nov. 7, 2008) They may have looked ghoulish, ghastly and downright geeky, but guests at the Staff Council appreciation breakfast Oct. 31 did their part to launch a food drive to help the needy children and their families at Whittier Elementary School in Denver.

The drive on the Downtown Campus is part of the Adopt-a-School program. On Anschutz Medical Campus, the consolidated Staff Council is holding a school supply drive to benefit Aurora Public Schools, with drop off boxes at all mail centers, notes Lisa Province, council co-chair.

The school supply drive goes on year round, with Nov. 13 as the next deadline. The food drive, however, has only just begun. “We received about three boxes worth at the breakfast,” Province explains. “We still need so much more! We will be collecting through mid-December.”

Food can be dropped off now at the scholarships office at room 120 in the CU-Denver Building. The larger food collection will kick off across the Downtown Campus in two weeks, Province explains, with boxes for food set up across the Downtown Campus.

“We have a need for empty copier paper boxes with tops,” Province says. “When those are collected, they will be decorated and put out at a few locations around the campus. One in Admissions, Executive Business Office, one at LSC, for sure, will be soliciting offices to see who is willing to put out a box.”

Items of greatest need include:

1. Stuffing
2. Cranberry Sauce
3. Canned Vegetables
4. Boxes of Cake Mix
5. Icing
6. Boxes of mashed potatoes
7. Jell-O Mix
8. Miscellaneous typical Thanksgiving food items
9. Cash donations to purchase turkeys
   

“We have a need for empty copier paper boxes with tops,” Province says. “When those are collected, they will be decorated and put out at a few locations around the campus. One in Admissions, Executive Business Office, one at LSC, for sure, will be soliciting offices to see who is willing to put out a box.”

For more information on the food drive or staff council, contact Province at lisa.province@ucdenver.edu or at 303-388-5894, or co-chair Mary Francavilla at mary.francavilla@ucdenver.edu or 303-352-3608.

Photos: Large on top, Demon Geek Girls Bernadette Boe and Rachel O’Toole from administration. Top right, Betsy Metzger (rescued Dalmation) and Sigrid Johnson (cat) from the College of Architecture and Planning; the ID of the clown at left is still a mystery to breakfast goers; center right, Vice Chancellor Teresa Berryman, left, Provost Rod Nairn, center, and a Broncos (not-too-scary-unless-you're-a-Browns-supporter) fan chat during the festivities; lower left, John Semple, CAP, has everyone feeling safer as Homeland Security; and at lower right, a swarthy Danny Felipe-Morales of the Registrar’s Office plays the pirate.