Today I want to tell you guys about a really great program CSU features every Fall: Cans Around the Oval. The SLiCE (Student Leadership, Involvement, and Community Engagement) Office runs Cans Around the Oval—a grand-scale food drive that combines the forces of CSU and the Fort Collins Community to collect a whopping amount of non-perishable food items for the Food Bank of Larimer County. Tons of student organizations and clubs get involved, including my club of choice: Pre-OT Club.

CANvassing

Pre-OT Club partakes in an activity called CANvassing to collect food from the community—the club has an assigned neighborhood and heads out on a Sunday morning knocking on doors and asking for non-perishable food items. They come back a week later to pick up any donations from the neighborhood. This year, I decided to help out the cause and go door-to-door asking for canned goods with a couple of other members.

Door-To-Door

Going around the neighborhood was actually pretty fun! The sun was shining, people were very friendly and enthusiastic about donating, and we even met a few friendly dogs along the way. It did take a long time, and by the end we were pretty worn out and ready to go home, but it felt really good to help out. Pre-OT Club got a lot of donations, too, which helped the overall CANS event to collect 52,188 lbs of food and $37,611 for the Food Bank for Larimer County. Impressive, no??

Volunteering

I know I’ve said it before, and I guarantee I will say it again: volunteering is one of the most rewarding, enjoyable activities you can take part in. I am really active in volunteering—I participate in most of the volunteer activities in Pre-OT Club, I try to volunteer in OT Clinics over summer and winter breaks, and I will take on almost any volunteer activity outside of those things, especially if it has to do with animals. I love volunteering; it feels really great to be able to give something back, and somebody directly benefits from my work. I strongly encourage you to get involved in your community, in your school, or just in your everyday life.

Question of the Day:

What are you interested in getting involved in?

There are so many great volunteer opportunities through CSU, and some great options throughout Fort Collins as well. You just have to find what you’re passionate about—animals, health, hunger, children—whatever it is that makes you driven to make the world just a little bit brighter. Find your passion, and choose volunteer work that is related to that passion. 

Here’s another video on our “RamTour” of campus—the video segments where you get to see a little peek at what CSU’s campus looks like! This one is of The Oval.