Staff Senate Campaign Helps UA Little Rock Families

The UA Little Rock Staff Senate helped 30 families of students and employees during the 2022 Holiday Season with the annual Helping Hands Campaign.

The Helping Hands Campaign provides holiday meal baskets for UA Little Rock employees and students who would otherwise not be able to provide a traditional holiday dinner for their families. The campaign has assisted with meeting the needs of dozens of families for more than 20 years.

In 2022, Staff Senate members collected more than 600 items of food from 13 locations across campus from October to the beginning of December. Thanks to generous donations from the campus community, Staff Senate members spread a little holiday cheer on Dec. 15 when they distributed a total of 35 baskets to the 30 families. Those with five or more people in their household received two bags of food. Applications were up by six compared to 2021.

Even though Staff Senate begins its food donation collection in earnest in mid-October, Rosalie Shahan, chair of the Helping Hands Campaign, said that people are welcome to help with the campaign all year.

“If you are out shopping and notice a sale on items, go ahead and get them,” Shahan said. “We can take items before the fall as long as the expiration date is 2024 or later. Some items are often needed more than others, such as cranberry sauce, cream of chicken/mushroom soup, and yams/sweet potatoes. I want to thank the campus community for all of their support for the Helping Hands Campaign.”

The holiday food baskets include stuffing/dressing mix, cornbread mix, cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, chicken/vegetable broth, green peas, black eyed peas, corn, yams/sweet potatoes, green beans, and cranberry sauce. Staff Senate members donated leftover food donations from the Helping Hands Campaign to the Trojan Food Pantry.

For more information, contact Shahan at rsshahan@midsouth.ualr.edu.