With World Food Day celebrations this week, the NIU chapter of the Illinois Public Health Association is collecting food and cans for the Safe Passage Homeless Shelter in DeKalb.

This is the second year the NIU chapter has collected cans and non-perishable food for the shelter. Last year, the group brought over 10 boxes of food during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Gina Piane, assistant professor at the Community Health Program, said the group decided to bring food during World Food Day this year because they found too many groups brought over food during Thanksgiving.

“The shelter is filled with women who have no place to live in this society,” Piane said. “We just feel good to be able to give the food to them.”

Pam Wiseman, executive director of Safe Passage, said any donations help when it comes to food being brought to the shelter. However, how far the food goes depends on the number of families currently in the shelter.

She also said she’s proud of the amount of support the community, especially the university groups, have always given to the shelter.

“The university has always been more than willing to give to the shelter, and I’m not sure if that’s true of every university,” Wiseman said.