Alabama and Auburn students join together to do good before the Iron Bowl

Students from the University of Alabama and Auburn University continued two annual traditions from before the Iron Bowl this year that help feed people struggling with food insecurity and raise awareness of the issue of veteran suicide to sharpen.

For more than three decades, students from Alabama’s two universities have held a friendly competition to see which group can raise the most food and monetary donations to benefit food banks in their area.

This year, Auburn’s Beat Bama Food Drive collected 980,928 pounds of food, while Alabama’s Beat Auburn Beat Hunger Drive collected 431,120 pounds – more than 1.4 million pounds combined during the competition, which ran from Oct. 4 to Nov. 21. Auburn’s efforts support the Food Bank of East Alabama, which serves seven counties, while UA’s action benefits the West Alabama Food Bank, which serves nine counties.

According to Feeding America, one in six people, including one in four children, struggle with food insecurity in Alabama.

“I am truly proud of how hard our leadership team, directors and staff have worked to host campus events this year,” said Kennedi Preston, president of Beat Auburn Beat Hunger. “It was a joy to see members of the Tuscaloosa community come together to support such a worthy cause.”

Participants in the 2024 Beat Auburn Beat Hunger food drive at the University of Alabama celebrate collecting 431,120 pounds of food for the West Alabama Food Bank. Auburn University’s Beat Bama Food Drive collected 980,928 pounds of food for the Food Bank of East Alabama as part of the annual friendly competition. (contributed)

Meanwhile, a group of student veterans from UA and AU came together to walk the state and bring attention to the scourge of veteran suicides.

Members of the UA Campus Veterans Association marched alongside the Auburn Student Veterans Association in the annual Operation Iron Ruck, which began Wednesday, Nov. 27, in front of Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn and continues today in advance of the annual Iron Bowl at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa was supposed to end the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers.

“Operation Iron Ruck was launched in 2018 to raise awareness and funds to combat the epidemic of veteran suicide,” said Blake Schickel, president of the UA Campus Veterans Association. “We hope to educate the public about this ongoing battle while uniting veterans within the community with a support system they can rely on. It provides participants with a personal level of support as well as an opportunity to relax and meet others who can relate to the struggles veterans go through.”

During the four-day trip, each student veteran hikes approximately 50 miles and carries 22 pounds of donated supplies to represent the estimated 22 veterans who die by suicide each day.

“In the most recent report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, there were more than 6,000 veteran suicides in 2021,” Schickel said. “In the state of Alabama, we lost 125 veterans to suicide this year, one of the highest rates in the country.”

Monetary and in-kind donations will be distributed to Three Hots and A Cot, Mission 22, the Bill Nichols State Veterans Home, the Tuskegee VA Medical Center and the Houston Project. For more information and ways to donate, visit the Operation Iron Ruck website.

Elements of this story appeared in stories written by Jennifer Brady and Bryant Welbourne for the University of Alabama website.