With today’s economy, the nation has seen a rise in the need of food pantries.

With job loss on the rise, more families are struggling to put food on their tables, and turn to institutions such as the Charleston Food Pantry to help out their loss of income.

For the Greek Week food drive, each Greek house donated 200 nonperishable food items that would be given to the food pantry, Laura Duckett, a senior psychology major said.

Two houses teamed together to create a sculpture out of the canned goods.

“This event is big on other college campuses,” Duckett said. “The Greek community wanted to try it out.”

Eastern’s Greeks saw this as a way to benefit the community.

Seven sculptures were completed in the end.

“The teams got extra points if they had an Eastern theme,” Duckett said. “All Greek houses are in the event as part of the Greek week games.

Christine Godbey, a sophomore corporate communications major, contacted the Charleston Food Pantry a few weeks ago about the event.

Lynn Collins, manager of the pantry, gave her a list of food the pantry needed.

The number of families the pantry helps is on the rise from last year, and there is no set type of people who require help. The Charleston Food Pantry has guidelines for income, but rarely is anyone turned away, Collins said.

“A lot of businesses are cutting down, so there’s more of a struggle,” said Charleston Mayor John Inyart, who served as a judge.

Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, was also asked to serve as a judge.

“The loss of jobs has played a factor,” he said. “People are sensitive to the economic situation of the next couple months.”

This kind of effort is going to have a significant impact in terms of helping in times of need, Nadler said.

The judges followed a set of guidelines in critiquing the sculptures.

“There was five criteria for competing in the contest,” Godbey said. “They were judged on creativity, originality, complexity, how clear was the goal, and it had to be an Eastern theme.”

She added it was the first year of the food drive and hopes to make it bigger for next year.

Collins is excited that the Greek community of Eastern got involved to help out with the Charleston Food Pantry.

“This community has realized things are tough,” Collins said.

In June, the Charleston Food Pantry will be moving to State Street with two other organizations – the Coles County Habitat for Humanity and the Coalition of People in Need. The coalition serves all the people in Coles County helping them with such things as rent and lights.

Jennifer Brown can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].