Palomar’s Office of Student Affairs hosted it’s annual “Stock The Bank” drive on Nov. 4 in the Student Union. The annual event brings in thousands of food and hygiene products for students in need.

Lindsay Kretchman, Coordinator of Student Affairs explained that this year’s event was the largest in terms of donations.

“The event was majorly successful, this year we had a record-breaking year. A total of 1,889 items were donated on the event day,” Kretchman said.

The 2015 drive brought in nearly 400 more items than last year’s event, which brought in a total 1,503 items. Kretchman explained that in years past, the drive was largely made up of fruits and vegetables. This year’s event, however, brought the students in need a wider variety of items,

“We had a good assortment of food; a lot of pastas, sauces, desserts, shampoo, and toothpaste in addition to the fruits and vegetables which helped normalize and balance out the spread,” Kretchman said.

This event totaled $250 for future food bank purposes. This event is designed to demonstrate that our college campus is one large community, and provide everyone in need with the essentials.

A total of 10 Palomar clubs were involved in making the “Stock the Bank” drive a success.

“Student workers brought in 200 items, an additional 100 items were donated from other campus students. The Student Veteran’s Organization totaled 407 donated items. The Tech Club as well as the Muslim Student Union brought in 233 items a piece,” Kretchman said.

Palomar’s Director of Communications, Laura Gropen made note that students who wish to contribute still have the opportunity to do so.

“The Office of Student Affairs has been collecting donations which will continue on campus in room FU 201,” Gropen said.

“This is one of my favorite events all year, because our campus community really pulls up, comes together and makes this such a fun event, by donating and paying it forward to others who need the services,” wrote Kretchman in a recent email regarding the successful event.