KPU Sociology Student Club holds donation drives for food, clothes, and hygiene items
Throughout November, students can donate items at Grassroots Cafe to support a Surrey homeless shelter
The donation drives tie into the Sociology Student Club's values of social responsibility and community care. (File photo/Diego Minor Martínez)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Sociology Student Club is hosting food, clothing, and hygiene drives to support the Surrey Urban Mission Society (SUMS) homeless shelter.
The club will be accepting donations at Grassroots Cafe on the Surrey campus throughout the month of November.
Club vice-president Gurpuneet Sandhar says the idea came to her while volunteering at a homeless shelter, where she helped in the kitchen and with a clothing drive.
“I realized how important warm clothing is for people in need, especially as the weather gets colder. I’ve also noticed sometimes the donations are summer clothes, which weren’t always useful,” Sandhar says.
“There were also certain food items that I felt like could really make a difference, especially with the chef cooking food items for a lot of people.”
After sharing observations in class and with her sociology instructor Seema Ahluwalia, she was inspired to take action and organize the donation drives with the club, while also expanding it to include hygiene products, too.
“These [items] are essentials as well, but they often get overlooked by people, and we normally don’t think people may actually need items like that,” Sandhar says.
The upcoming food drive will take place on Nov. 14 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm and on Nov. 28 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Some of the items that students can donate include non-perishable food such as instant oatmeal packages, juice boxes, canned food, cereal, and soft granola bars, among others.
The hygiene drive will accept unused deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, and hair conditioners, among others. The drop-off dates for the hygiene drive are Nov. 19 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and Nov. 26 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.
The clothing drive will accept any type of warm clothes including jackets, scarves, gloves, hoodies, jeans, sweatpants, shoes, and more. It will take place on Nov. 18 and Nov. 25 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
“Throughout my experience volunteering at the shelter, I’ve noticed a lot of people want to get rid of their summer items, like shorts or T-shirts,” Sandhar says. “The weather is getting super chilly, and soon it might start to snow, and we feel like it’d be great if we could really include warm clothes instead of summer clothes.”
She adds while the clothes don’t necessarily have to be new, it would be great if people can donate new items, too.
During the first clothing drive, which took place on Nov. 4, the club received two bags of clothes. Even though they didn’t receive as many donations as they hoped to, all donations were meaningful, Sandhar says.
She adds she is thankful to her team at the Sociology Student Club in helping organize, promote, and collect donations, as well the support from Ahluwalia.
“We’ll work together to make this something that represents a whole club and what we stand for: social responsibility and community care. Overall, this initiative has shown how sociology isn’t just something we study. It can be applied by helping others.”
Sandhar says she hopes the donation drives inspire more students to get involved and make a difference within the community.
“We hope to see more donations from students and KPU staff because it would be really great to truly support those in need,” Sandhar says. “If we all truly get together, we can make a lot of difference.”
