As the cold weather approaches, the men of Lambda Chi Alpha are busy collecting food for those in need.

“We would like to reach our goal of 3 million pounds worth of food before the winter season. Winter is the time that food is needed the most and we would like to have it available by then,” said sophomore Kyle Hanson.

The North American Food Drive is a nationwide Lambda Chi Alpha tradition. According to Hanson, it was started by the chapters in the southern states. The idea is to give back to the community and to do a project that takes a different path from others.

Today, there are about 200 chapters that participate in the North American Food Drive and the project has had a significant growth since its inception. It is, by far, the largest of its kind to be done by a college fraternity.

“Although image is not a big part of it, we do the food drive to portray a different and positive image of the house to the community, as opposed to the negativity that fraternities are known for,” said sophomore Anan Smith.

Each person in the Lambda house contributes at least five hours preparing for this year’s effort. “Some people end up spending more time than others,” said Hanson.

After the food is collected, Lambda delivers it to the Food Bank of Iowa, which then distributes it around the local food pantries.

Hanson said Lambda is looking for help from the Simpson Community. They ask that the next time you go to a grocery store, pick up at least a few extra cans of food. The food can be deposited in food drive boxes that will be located in each residence hall or housing unit.

An empty grocery bag will be given to Indianola residents and also, Lambda Chi Alpha will conjunctively work with local schools, churches and businesses.