[media-credit name=’LUKAS KEAPPROTH/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]

University of Wisconsin students compiled, sorted and packed more than 8,000 pounds of food for donation Wednesday as part of the largest food drive in the university’s history.

“Red and White Hunger Fight,” which took place at Ogg Hall, was the culmination a campuswide food drive at UW with more than 100 student volunteers.

The drive, which ran from Oct. 20 to Nov. 10, was a highly successful collaborative effort of more than 50 UW student organizations, ranging from athletic groups to the Greek community.

Michele Dalton, a UW sophomore and goaltender on the UW women’s soccer team, developed the idea for the campuswide food drive and worked with Anne Whisner of UW’s Morgridge Center for Public Service to make it a reality.

“I participated in a similar event in high school, and when I saw a lack of organization on campus, I decided to bring the idea to the UW-Madison community,” Dalton said.

UW junior Samantha Harris, vice president of the All-Greek Council and member of Chi Omega, said the food drive was organized into a competition where student groups competed for the highest weight of food donated.

Army ROTC won the contest with roughly 1,200 pounds of food and will receive 30 tickets to the Nov. 22 football game against Cal Poly and will receive a pregame presentation of an award on the field and a half-time acknowledgement from UW Athletic Director Barry Alvarez.

All food and money collected will be donated to the Community Action Coalition. The Coalition aims to alleviate hunger in Dane, Jefferson and Waubesa counties by distributing food and donations to food pantries throughout south central Wisconsin.

Dalton said individual student groups had organized food drives in the past, but a campuswide drive where all student groups worked together had never been formed.

“The Morgridge Center’s purpose is to promote civic engagement and aid students in their quest to better the community,” Whisner said. “This type of action and student motivation is exactly what we stress and is highly exciting.”

Chris Brockel, manager of the CAC Foods Division and the food drive’s liaison, said that in 2008, 15 percent more people are visiting food pantries in Dane County as opposed to 2007. That number rose to nearly 50 percent in neighboring Waubesa County.

“Red and White Hunger Fight” also hosts events encouraging monetary donations to go toward the purchase of Thanksgiving baskets, which will be handed out to various food pantries on Thanksgiving Day.

Dalton hopes the campuswide drive is not just one-time event.

“This first year is really about raising campus awareness, but I want this event to be an annual tradition where the entire school rallies toward the cause of fighting local hunger,” said Dalton.