Charlie’s Cupboard’s Recent Food Drive Proves to be a Success 

In this past week, Charlie’s Cupboard received a sizable amount of donations, ranging from personal hygiene items to food products, that are to be given away to the students at USD. 

Charlie’s Cupboard is a student-run organization that was created in 2020. The goal of the Cupboard is to help students who are in need of groceries or other necessities. 

In their most recent food drive, the Cupboard received three bins full of food items, and two bins full of personal hygiene products. While they were open last Thursday, they had already given away two bins of food, as well as one and one-half bins of hygiene products.  

Since the start of Charlie’s Cupboard, there has been a large increase in the number of students who use the on-campus resource. 

Spencer Pigman, Junior at USD and Vice-president of Charlie’s Cupboard said, “When I was a freshman, there were probably 10 to 20 kids that came in on a Thursday and now the numbers are around 150 to 200 a week consistently.”  

Donations to Charlie’s Cupboard are necessary for maintaining not only the donation drive as a whole but also the ability for students to get the products they need for day-to-day life. The cupboard also receives grants that allow its workers to buy food for donation. 

However,  the donations of canned goods and other products are a major part of what makes up the cupboard. People within the Vermillion community are very generous about donating, but there is always a need for more.  

“People are super generous, and it’s been amazing. We have what we need, but we can always take in more items so that we can provide for more and more people,” Pigman said.  

 receives donations through many ways, specifically by placing donation bins across campus throughout the year.However, Student organizations will also often have food drives to help give to the cupboard. There are currently donation drive bins located in the law school as well as  in the Continuing Education Center that are available for people to donate year-round.