Mines Students Mobilize to Give Back on MLK Day Holiday

January 12, 2023
Mines Students Mobilize to Give Back on MLK Day Holiday
Mines students collecting canned goods at a local supermarket during a previous MLK day canned food drive. This is the 13th year in a row Mines has taken on the event to benefit Feeding South Dakota and the university student food pantry.

For the 13th year in a row, student groups from South Dakota Mines will step up to serve as volunteers on the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, collecting food and cash donations at local grocery stores. The food drive benefits Feeding South Dakota and the student food pantry at Mines.

The 13th annual food drive will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16. Student volunteers will be at the following locations in Rapid City: Timmons Neighborhood Market, both Safeway locations, both Walmart locations, both Family Fare locations and the Breadroot Cooperative. 

South Dakota Mines is pleased to partner once again with Black Hills Federal Credit Union. BHFCU is helping fundraise and collect canned goods and other non-perishables as part of the food drive. Collection bins are located at the five Rapid City BHFCU Member Service Centers and on the South Dakota Mines campus. Drop off locations on the Mines Campus include the physics and math departments and at the King Center.

The annual food drive honors Dr. King's legacy and is an opportunity for Rapid City residents to renew their own personal vows of citizenship through service to others.

"Our students recognize the importance of advancing our community through charitable giving and serving learning,” says Joe Dlugos, Ph.D., Dean of Students at South Dakota Mines. “In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. earned the Noble Peace Prize for his work and then immediately donated the prize money of over $50,000 right back into the movements that meant the most to him. In 2023, South Dakota Mines students can recreate the selflessness of this act by donating their time, their energy and their funds for food in the 13th year of this special event."

The 2022 food drive brought in more than 2,803 pounds of food and over $1,000. Checks can be made out to Feeding South Dakota. Cash donations will be used to purchase food for the Mines student food pantry and donated to Feeding South Dakota.

Student organizations participating include Lambda Chi Alpha, Triangle, Circle K, Pi Tau Sigma, Beta Delta Mu, Society of Physics Students, the National Society of Black Engineers and Mines Campus Ministries.