Faculty, staff and students contributing to Northeastern’s 48th annual food drive Food collected between now and Nov. 21 will go to local food pantries. In addition, the holiday toy drive runs through Dec. 13. by Alena Kuzub November 8, 2024 Share this story Copy Link Link Copied! Email Facebook LinkedIn Twitter WhatsApp Reddit Food collected by Nov. 21 will be given to the food pantries of the Grant Manor Tenants Association and Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University Continuing a tradition that began in 1976, Northeastern’s Office of City and Community Engagement is again organizing the university’s annual food drive. Boxes have been set up to collect donations throughout the Boston campus. Food collected between now and Nov. 21 will be given to the food pantries of the Grant Manor Tenants Association and Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury. John Tobin, Northeastern’s vice president of city and community engagement, says the generosity of the Northeastern community grows each year. “They’ve never failed the test, and it seems like each year their contributions are even more substantial,” he says. Whatever holiday a family celebrates during the holiday season, toys donated by the Northeastern community will bring joy to families and help build stronger connections with communities across Boston. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University To best serve its community partners, the Office of City and Community Engagement asks donors to ensure that the food items — such as canned goods and boxed items — are unexpired and non-perishable. “The Northeastern community is just so generous both in terms of food and holiday gifts for kids,” says Tobin, who grew up in the Dorchester and West Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston. “You can’t even imagine just walking down some of these sidewalks that [there is] someone inside one of those houses that’s hungry,” he says. In addition to the boxes around campus, faculty, staff and students can also make donations inside 716 Columbus Ave. or arrange for food to be collected. “We deploy our whole team with our little wagons and we go make the pickups,” Tobin says. The Office of City and Community Engagement is organizing the university’s holiday toy drive, which runs through Dec. 13. That drive is organized in partnership with Northeastern’s Latinx Student Cultural Center. It will benefit the Tobin Community Center located in Roxbury Crossing, Alice Heyward Taylor Apartments housing complex across from West Village, and Villa Victoria Inquilinos, a South End affordable housing community. “They’ve been great partners in the past,” Tobin says. “These toys get into the right hands of families to give to their kids for whatever holiday you celebrate.” Faculty and staff who are not on campus can support the food and toy drives by making an online monetary donation. “I can assure you that every food item, every toy, every cash contribution goes directly into the hands of kids and families in need who live around our campus,” Tobin says.