The holiday season brings a time for sharing and that is what some NIU student organizations are encouraging as they sponsor food drives for the Salvation Army food pantry.

The Public Relations Student Society of America is sponsoring a food drive through Dec. 11 to involve members and apply public relations principles.

PRSSA President Dawn Messenger said the group has divided into six teams of three people each. The teams will work in competition with each other to collect as many canned goods as possible. The winning team will receive a monetary award.

“We are putting boxes (for food) all over campus and DeKalb,” she said. She has set a goal of 150 cans of food and said she thinks this food drive will become an annual event.

The American Marketing Association is another campus organization that has held a food drive for the needy.

AMA PR head Wendy Pullega said members were encouraged to give food on a point system. After gaining a certain amount of points, the member received a certificate of recognition.

Pullega said AMA held the food drive for the Thanksgiving holiday to help the hungry and homeless.

Salvation Army Office Manager Barb Goken said Circle K also held a food drive for the holiday season.

“We have a food pantry throughout the year but people seem to hold more food drives around Christmas and Easter,” Goken said.

Goken said 90 families regularly go to the Salvation Army for food each month; some even go two or three times a month.

For people to receive food from the Salvation Army they must meet with the Salvation Army social worker who then determines how much food a person can receive, according to income and the number of people in the family.

“No one is ever turned down for food,” Goken said. “We have a freezer with meat because we try to have a variety of the basic food groups.” Goken said since canned vegetables are the main donations, the Salvation Army subsidizes the pantry with protein and pasta.