Saturday is the 17th annual Make A Difference Day, the nation’s largest day of volunteering to make communities stronger.

Kent State is taking part in the event by holding a campus-wide food drive that started Oct. 10 and ends today. Kent State’s goal is to collect 1,500 pounds of food to contribute to Portage County’s goal of 15,000 pounds. Collected food items will remain in Portage County, helping fill local pantries.

Maggie Dreussi is the community service chair for the American Marketing Association, the official marketing team for Make a Difference Day, which is in charge of promoting the food drive.

“Last year, Portage County collected 14,000 pounds,” Dreussi said. “With an additional 1,000 pounds to collect this year, we felt Kent State could help contribute to the community by holding its own campus-wide food drive for Kent State students, faculty and employees to participate in.”

All organizations will bring collected food items to the Maplewood Career Center tomorrow. There they will be weighed and added to the other items collected throughout Portage County.

– Liz Laubscher