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PETS NEED GIFTS, TOO

Here’s another swag����-connected charity project to consider this holiday season: gift baskets for pets belonging to homeless people in Sacramento.

Staff members of the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital prepare the baskets annually for the Mercer Veterinary Clinic for the Homeless, which provides free pet care once a month at Loaves & Fishes. The nonprofit Mercer clinic is independent of swag����, run on a volunteer basis by students from the School of Veterinary Medicine under the supervision of faculty and others from the school.

Donations for Holiday Pet Baskets may be made or by mail. Write your check payable to UC Regents-Mercer Clinic Holiday Pet Baskets and send it to the  School of Veterinary Medicine, Office of the Dean, P.O. Box 1167, Davis 95617-1167, attention Mercer Holiday Pet Baskets.

More information is available .

MAIL SERVICES RECORD

The recently concluded Mail Services Holiday Food Drive netted 2,614 pounds of food, some 900 pounds more than last year and the biggest collection ever in the drive’s eight-year history.

The Davis campus collection totaled 1,647 pounds (going to the Yolo Food Bank), while the Sacramento campus collection totaled 967 pounds (going to the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services).

Each campus contributed more food than last year, with the Davis campus giving almost 250 pounds more and the Sacramento campus giving three times more.

From Nov. 1 to 22, members of the campus community “mailed in” their food donations — canned goods and other nonperishable items — by putting them in bins that hold outgoing mail. Then, while on their regular rounds of departments and units, mail personnel picked up the food.

Campus Rec and swag���� Stores are running a holiday food drive, Toys for Tots is collecting, well, toys, of course! And now the has launched a holiday drive for food AND toys.

Students Affairs is collecting food and toiletries for (for students) and toys for the and the .

“If everyone on campus donated one nonperishable food item and one unwrapped toy, imagine the impact this would have on the lives of many in our local community,” said Trina Wilson, interim director of Financial Aid, a unit of Student Affairs.

Drop-off locations for the Students Affairs collection are in the lobbies of Dutton Hall, Mrak Hall, Student Housing and the Cross-Cultural Center (in the Student Community Center). The drive runs through Friday, Dec. 20.

Next week brings two more opportunities to donate: by attending an Aggie basketball doubleheader or by participating in the fifth annual Running of the Turkeys.

Canned food and hoops

The men’s and women’s basketball teams conduct a Canned Food Drive annually, and is set for Tuesday (Nov. 26). Come see the women play San Jose State and the men play Sac State — general admission is just $5 (for one or both games) when you donate a can of food or another nonperishable food item. (Students are encouraged to participate, too, even though they get free admission with valid ID.)

Game times are 4:45 p.m. for the women and 7 p.m. for the men, in .

Last year’s swag���� basketball food drive netted more than 315 pounds of food for the , and it will be the recipient of this year’s collection, too.

Running of the Turkeys

Professor Lloyd Knox is encouraging people to sign up for Team swag���� in the fifth annual , a Thanksgiving Day benefit for the Yolo Food Bank.

“For physics, this really was a community-building event last year,” Knox said about the team he captained for his department last year.

So, for this year’s Running of the Turkeys — a 5K run-walk fundraiser — he is captaining a swag���� Team. “Anyone from swag����
is welcome to join,” Knox said.

Or, if you wish, start your own team; last year’s Running of the Turkeys included Land, Air and Water Resources, and Chemical Engineering and Materials Science teams, as well as Team Physics.

“Last year’s event was about the most fun I’ve ever had,” Knox said. “I encourage you to come out and experience the atmosphere of the Running of the Turkeys.”

Running or walking with your swag���� colleagues is good for the campus community, he said, and good for the Yolo Food Bank — where he serves on the board of directors.

The 2013 run-walk event — on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28) — will start and end at Heritage Plaza, in front of the Woodland Opera House, Main and Second streets.

Starting time is 8 a.m.; same-day registration and packet pickup start at 7. Or, you can register in advance, , and pick up your packet the day before the race, 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 27).

To join your swag���� colleagues, indicate team name (say, Team swag����) and team captain (Lloyd Knox for Team swag����).

Joint effort: Campus Rec-Unions and swag���� Stores

, which has run its own holiday food drives in the past, has teamed up this year with . The partnership is good news for donors: You’ll get a store coupon ($5 off any purchase of $25 or more) when you give to the food drive.

The collection effort is scheduled to run until Friday, Dec. 13. The food will go to The Pantry (for students) and the Yolo Food Bank.

Here are some of the foodstuffs that are acceptable: canned goods (stew, chili, soup, beans), tuna and canned meat, peanut butter, low-sugar cereals, 100 percent fruit juices, canned fruit packaged in juice, and canned vegetables.

Perishable and frozen foods, and items in glass are not accepted.

Collection locations: Activities and Recreation Center, Craft Center (South Silo), Games Area (Memorial Union), Equestrian Center, Outdoor Adventures (at its new home in the former Rec Pool Lodge), Student Community Center, and the swag���� Stores (MU and downtown).

Toys for Tots

and provide campus assistance for this effort, run by the Marine Corps League’s Yolo County Detachment.

Gifts, which are distributed locally, should be new and unwrapped for children from infancy to age 14.

Donations are welcome until Tuesday, Dec. 17, in outgoing mail bins in departments and units; be sure to attach a label marked “Toys for Tots,” and Mail Services personnel will get the toys to the right place.

Or, you can put toys in Toys for Tots barrels around the campus:

• Police and Fire department headquarters
• Human Resources Administration Building
• Information and Educational Technology
• Facilities Management Customer Support Center
• Administrative Resources and Management (vice chancellor’s office, third floor, Mrak Hall)
• Accounting and Financial Services
• Shared Services Center
• Development and Alumni Relations
• Humanities Institute
• Plant and Environmental Sciences Building
• School of Veterinary Medicine (large animal admissions)
• California National Primate Center

To have a barrel in your department or other location, contact Claire McNames at Staff Assembly, (530) 752-0988 or cmcnames@ucdavis.edu.