The Fresno City College Electrical Systems Technology Club is holding a canned food drive until Nov. 20 to benefit the Fresno Rescue Mission.
“We come from all different walks of life so this really gives us all an opportunity to be able to give back to our community and really do something.” said Lindsey.
They will only be collecting canned and dry goods on Wednesday in T-303H classroom in the Technology department of FCC between the hours of 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. during their club meetings.
“We are just taking in dry foods and cans. Since we don’t have freezer space we aren’t taking turkeys or anything like that,” said food drive coordinator Patrick Smith.
Once the food is given to Fresno Rescue Mission on Nov. 22, the club knows that it will be entirely out of their hands on exactly what happens with the cans.
“When we first started, we didn’t know of everything we had to choose from, but as we have learned the Fresno Rescue Mission will distribute food to multiple facilities or organizations so that is why we choose to give everything to them,” said EST club president David Lindsey.
The Fresno Rescue Mission is a non-profit group, founded in 1949 whose main goal is to both evangelize as well as meet the physical needs of the underprivileged in the local community.
“My family, we have had hard times, we have had to rely on other people for help before and that helped us greatly especially around the holidays,” said Smith.
EST club has set a goal that is more generous than what the club has set for themselves in the past.
“Right now we have a goal of 600 cans, but last year we had a goal of 300 and we knocked that out of the park with around 1,550 so we really want to knock this goal out of the park the same way,” said Lindsey.
And they do believe that they can get to that goal, with the enthusiasm that has been shown from their club members.
“We want to start a lifestyle that is all about giving back to our community by doing whatever it takes,” said Lindsey “when we want 10 we get about 20 that want to show so it’s not something that we do because we have to, we truly do want and enjoy doing this kind of thing.”
EST club extend put their community service spirit on display with different events throughout the year.
Including working with Habitat for Humanity and this food drive are their ways of giving back to the community.
“Our club is just really into community service so this is something that we really can all get behind,” said Smith
The group’s eagerness to help those that are struggling has roots in their respective backgrounds.
“When I was younger I was the recipient of canned food drives and there are others in the club who have had the same things,” said Lindsey “so we just look at this as an opportunity to do something special.”
