N.C. State and the other UNC system schools don’t just compete in basketball in the month of February anymore.

The UNC System Staff Assembly decided to make the month of February a month of service for the group.  The assembly decided that each of the 17 schools represented on the staff assembly would each do a service project for the month.

According to Susan Lankford, a research associate in the department of molecular biomedical sciences, the UNC system staff assembly suggested donating food.  N.C. State decided to have a food drive for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. 

In February 2010, N.C. State staff senate sponsored a week long food drive where they collected 443 pounds of food, according to Steve Carlton, a crime prevention officer with the public safety department.

According to Carlton, last year, the UNC system raised an estimated 11,000 pounds during the week long food drive.

Lankford said the staff is encouraging everyone to donate food throughout the month of February.  There are collection boxes set up around campus.

“Each staff member on the N.C. State staff senate was asked to set up a box in their district of campus.  I made a flyer to put on all the boxes,” Lankford said.  “I work in the vet school, and I’ve set up two boxes here.  We also put some boxes in the lobby of Talley Student Center.”

Representatives with the North Carolina School of Science and Math contacted N.C. State to help with their food drive.   

“The students at the N.C. School of Science and Math are trying to break the Guiness Book of World Records record for the most food collected,” Lankford said.  “Their goal is 500,000 pounds of food.  We’ve made an arrangement that the food we raise will be counted in their total.”

According to Carlton, another reason N.C. State agreed to partner with the N.C. School of Science and Math was because both groups are donating to the same charity.

The UNC System chose the name “Have a Heart,” because of the time of the year.

“We’re doing this in February, so we have the Valentine’s Day concept,” Carlton said. 

After doing the food drive for only a week last year, the group made the decision to extend it to the month of February in hopes of collecting more food, according to Carlton.

“We found that people weren’t always able to give all at once, so we decided it was better to spread it out,” Carlton said.  “We wanted to make it an entire month, and Valentine’s Day falls right in the middle of February, to give people a chance to donate from the beginning of the month to the end of the month.”

Carlton is a member of the staff senate at N.C. State and a past chair.  Lankford represents the College of Veterinary Medicine. 

The Staff Senate is comprised of staff members representing different districts of campus, according to Lankford.  Each district has a certain number of members.

The next larger body is the UNC System Staff Assembly, according to Lankford. Carlton served on the UNC System Staff Assembly.

“Part of my duties as chair of the staff senate was to be a part of the UNC system staff assembly,” Carlton said. “Each school in the UNC system have their own staff senate.  Each staff senate has representation on the staff assembly.”

Carlton said the representatives on the UNC staff assembly are not students or faculty.

“It’s just normal everyday employees,” Carlton said.