The total amount includes contributions from the women's soccer team and alumni over Homecoming weekend totalling 22 cans and $116. However, the majority of the funds and food were collected from the inter-dorm competition that ran for 11 days prior to Nov. 17. At the drive's completion, Marsh House was declared the winner.
Advertising an a cappella concert featuring the Bluestockings and Zumbyes in the spring as a prize, the competition pitted dorm against dorm in order to see which dorm could raise the most food and money.
Scoring was based on the ratio of pounds of food collected to the number of residents in a dorm, with every $3 donated equivalent to a pound of food. Marsh's winning effort was a total of 121 cans, deemed equivalent to 121 pounds of food. Divided by 19 residents, Marsh's ratio came up to an average of 6.36 pounds per person. Seligman House, with nine residents, came in second with 10 cans and $60, equivalent to 30 pounds of food.
Plimpton House (13 residents) placed third with 13 cans. In fourth and fifth places were Tyler House with 15 pounds of food for 17 residents, and Morris Pratt Dormitory with 37 cans and $195 for 118 residents.
James Hall received an honorable mention from the drive's organizers for its outstanding performance as a first-year dorm. Its residents donated 22 cans and $116 to the drive.
Mingham Ji '09, one of the food drive's coordinators, commented on the drive's success. "This competition showed us just how much one dorm can unite to raise an enormous amount of cans and food, no matter the number of residents," she said.
"We were extremely impressed by how almost every person we talked to was willing to help out," said Ji. "It just goes to show how individual efforts can combine to produce an amazing result. We were very excited to give these donations to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, and we want to thank all the faculty, students, and alums who helped us make this possible."