Utah Summer Games Block Party to feature food drive for Southern Utah University Hope Pantry
CEDAR CITY, Utah () — The will host a food drive at this year's Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games Block Party through the Summer Games Serves initiative.
The SUU Hope Pantry will have a booth at the block party on Friday, June 6, from 5-8 p.m. at the SUU Practice Field, which is located west of Eccles Coliseum. Donations of food and other items will be accepted at their booth until the end of the block party.
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Donations will assist SUU students facing food insecurity in the 2025-2026 academic year, which affects a significant number of students.
'Almost half of all SUU students struggle with food insecurity each school year,' director of the SUU Hope Pantry Pam Branin said in a press release. 'Being able to provide a campus pantry makes a huge difference, as students often reflect, 'the pantry saved me.''
The SUU Hope Pantry is requesting donations of the following items:
Bags of rice
Pasta and pasta sauce
Canned meats (chicken, tuna)
Ready-to-eat-soup
Full-size toiletry items (soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc.)
According to the executive director of the Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games, Jon Oglesby, the Summer Games Serve initiative has been supported by UServe Utah and the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement this year.
You can find more information about the Utah Summer Games on their .
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Utah Summer Games Block Party to feature food drive for Southern Utah University Hope Pantry
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Utah Summer Games Block Party to feature food drive for Southern Utah University Hope Pantry
CEDAR CITY, Utah () — The will host a food drive at this year's Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games Block Party through the Summer Games Serves initiative. The SUU Hope Pantry will have a booth at the block party on Friday, June 6, from 5-8 p.m. at the SUU Practice Field, which is located west of Eccles Coliseum. Donations of food and other items will be accepted at their booth until the end of the block party. Upcoming Ogden car show to raise funds for program that helps at-risk youth Donations will assist SUU students facing food insecurity in the 2025-2026 academic year, which affects a significant number of students. 'Almost half of all SUU students struggle with food insecurity each school year,' director of the SUU Hope Pantry Pam Branin said in a press release. 'Being able to provide a campus pantry makes a huge difference, as students often reflect, 'the pantry saved me.'' The SUU Hope Pantry is requesting donations of the following items: Bags of rice Pasta and pasta sauce Canned meats (chicken, tuna) Ready-to-eat-soup Full-size toiletry items (soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc.) According to the executive director of the Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games, Jon Oglesby, the Summer Games Serve initiative has been supported by UServe Utah and the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement this year. You can find more information about the Utah Summer Games on their . Judge orders federal prisons to continue gender-affirming care for transgender inmates 2025 Alliance RV Avenue All-Access 29RL New 2025 Forest River RV Rockwood Signature 8336BH University of Utah tennis player charged with rape, documents say Utah Summer Games Block Party to feature food drive for Southern Utah University Hope Pantry Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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'I've learned to listen, I've learned to observe. I've learned not to judge and forgiveness, and those are elements I practice every day because I need to know and understand and feel for whoever I am with, because they have a story too that I need to hear,' said former national Peace Corps director Jody Olsen Wednesday as she reflected on a life of volunteerism. During a panel hosted by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, Olsen shared how her years of service and volunteering — in Africa and Asia and the Pacific, in places like Tunisia and Togo — have impacted her and why she wants to help inspire more young people to get involved in service. Wednesday's panel focusing on volunteerism and civic engagement is a part of the institute's monthly newsmaker breakfast series. Alongside Olsen, the panel also featured Loggins Merrill, director of UServeUtah, and Shireen Ghorbani, a former Salt Lake County councilmember. 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UServeUtah celebrates 30th anniversary laying groundwork to remain No. 1 in volunteerism
Snow falls at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) For years, Utah has scored some of the top spots in the country's volunteerism rankings. After emerging from a pandemic dip into an increasingly polarized political climate, emphasis is being placed on the connections that can be made on both sides when Utahns serve one another. For decades, the state has maintained an institution whose sole mission is to foster a culture of service — the Utah Commission on Service and Volunteerism, also known as UServeUtah. After AmeriCorps, a federal agency for volunteerism, was established, Utah created the commission to access the new office's funding. But, while some states kept their scopes narrowed to AmeriCorps' guidelines, in Utah, the commission became 'the central coordinating body for service and volunteerism,' Mike Moon, associate director at UServeUtah said. Fast forward to 2024, the year of its 30th anniversary, UServeUtah has some shining numbers to show. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'We take that role and that title, that name, 'the central coordinating body for service and volunteerism' very seriously,' Moon said, 'which means for the state that has the highest rate of volunteerism, both formal and informal in the nation.' The organization helps nonprofit organizations to run volunteer programs, so participants have a good experience and are likely to put their names down for a second time. It also provides individuals with resources to serve, he said. Utah volunteerism is recovering from a bad patch. Following national trends, Utah's volunteer rate dropped from 47% in 2019 to 40% in 2021, according to data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps. The latest numbers show a recovery, however. Between September 2022 and 2023, more than 1.2 million Utahns served as formal volunteers, contributing nearly 114 million hours of service, according to AmeriCorps. That means that 46.6% of Utah residents helped others through organizations. Informal volunteers, or those who exchanged favors with their neighbors, made up about 68% of the state's population. The most common volunteer activities among Utahns center around food, Moon said. There are a lot of food donations, food drives, and hands helping pack and distribute food to those in need. Missionaries from The Church of Latter-day Saints who serve in the state are counted in the metrics gathered by the census. Plus, others in the 2.1 million church membership are highly encouraged to volunteer. However, Moon said, all UServeUtah resources are meant to stay within the state's boundaries. But, one predominant personality trait of the state may also explain such high numbers: its niceness. Some Utah politicians have coined the term the 'Utah way' mostly to explain the state's civility. Gov. Spencer Cox also launched the 'Disagree Better' initiative, aiming to attenuate politically-driven polarization. In a way, UServeUtah jumped on that bandwagon for its 30th birthday. 'We have a new initiative that we call United in Service, and that initiative is designed around the idea that service is a great tool to help people get to know one another and come together for a common cause,' Moon said. 'There's so much incivility and division in our society right now that we know that service and volunteerism helps bring people together. It can be one of the cures.' Organizers bring volunteers together and have them discuss easy prompts. The events, Moon said, are designed to help people connect, finding common ground around a cause and other life experiences — and to keep them coming back. 'People are indeed connecting and finding that it's a good space to do that, so we're continuing them,' Moon said. The next United in Service project is scheduled for Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Tooele. Additionally, the commission is planning to focus its efforts on housing, for those in need of affordable homes; mental health, especially for young people and aging adults; and incorporating service projects where people are, providing incentives for people to volunteer through programs at their schools or jobs. For now, the commission has many volunteering opportunities on its website and encourages Utahns to use its Community Engagement Pathways tool to find their best volunteering match. And, while these efforts benefit others, Moon highlighted that it can also be good for the person providing the service. 'We receive so much by giving, by doing things for others, it improves our psyche, our well being, our health,' he said. 'So it is important. It's essential, not only for other people, that we serve, but for ourselves.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
