Vincent Contrucci, left, director of community service at Quinnipiac University, Lamont George, a volunteer at AIDS Project New Haven, and Fran McMullen, program coordinator at AIDS Project New Haven.
Quinnipiac University students donated an estimated 9,000 pounds or 4.5 tons of food to four area nonprofits through its seventh annual “Be Kind, Leave Food Behind” food drive.
Before leaving for the summer, Quinnipiac’s residential students were encouraged to donate their leftover nonperishable food to Columbus House of New Haven, AIDS Project New Haven, Master’s Manna, Inc. of Wallingford and Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services of New Haven.
“We are very excited about the results of this year’s effort and the impact it will have on the ability of our non-profit partners to respond to the unmet needs of the local community,” said Vincent Contrucci, director of community service at Quinnipiac.
“We don’t usually get this kind of variety,” said Fran McMullen, program coordinator at AIDS Project New Haven. “Having this kind of variety allows us to provide additional choices and will allow us to keep going through the summer. We’re very fortunate to be part of this program,” she said.
She said donations drop off sharply during the summer months.
Feeding America, a nationwide non-profit composed of 200 food banks, estimates that the market value of a pound of donated food in 2014 was $1.72. That means the Quinnipiac students donated approximately $15,480 in food.