The University of Alabama Breaks School Record in Beat Auburn, Beat Hunger Food Drive

Food-insecure families will receive several months of aid due to a resounding achievement from the University of Alabama's "Beat Auburn, Beat Hunger" food drive.

Auburn University faces off against the Capstone every year to see which institution can donate the most pounds of food to help local pantries and banks in their respective areas. The University of Alabama works with the West Alabama Food Bank, which helps families with food insecurities in Tuscaloosa County and eight surrounding counties.

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While they didn't take home the win this year, UA's faculty, staff and community still managed to raise 319,437 pounds of food, setting a personal school record.

“[UA] exceeded all of their goals, all of their expectations,” said Jean Rykaczewski, the executive director of the West Alabama Food Bank, in a press release. “They set very high financial goals, high pound goals, and this group worked really hard to overcome some of the challenges they had coming off of a pandemic. I have never seen a group work harder under such challenging conditions.”

Auburn completed its campaign by raising 352,388 pounds of food. According to the release, the Tigers haven't won the competition since 2016.

Combined, the institutions raised 671,826 pounds of food during the 2021 campaign.

In the friendly competition's 27 years of existence, both schools have managed to collect at least 7.6 million pounds of food for their respective food banks, serving hundreds of families in need.

For more on Beat Auburn Beat Hunger, visit the group's Instagram page here.