NCSSM food drive collects UNC raffle prizes

January 12, 2010

By Matthew E. Milliken

mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684

DURHAM - Two UNC Chapel Hill stars have signed on to the world-record-breaking attempt being mounted by the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.

Former UNC basketball player Eric Montross, now a broadcaster, has signed a copy of the edition of The Daily Tar Heel printed after Montross and his teammates won the 1993 NCAA championship. Anoop Desai, the UNC graduate who finished sixth on the "American Idol" TV talent contest last year, has signed a UNC T-shirt.

Both items will be raffled off to people who donate nonperishable goods on March 20 when the state-run, two-year residential school tries to break the Guinness World Records' mark for most food gathered by a non-charitable organization in a single location over a 24-hour period.

The current record is 509,147 pounds, or nearly 254.6 tons, which were collected Sept. 20-21, 2008, by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in collaboration with the Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank in Canada.

Meanwhile, the food drive, which already had a Twitter feed, has become even easier to find online.

Last week, organizers launched a Web site at www.ncssm.edu/fooddrive. They also have a Facebook page at facebook.com/NCSSMFoodDrive that had gathered 500 fans as of Monday afternoon.

The Twitter feed, which is available at twitter.com/ncssmfooddrive, includes posts asking music stars Clay Aiken, Alicia Keys, Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban, sports stars Shaquille O'Neal and Danica Patrick and actor Tracy Morgan to donate items to be raffled at the food drive.

Organizers hope to gain more raffle prizes and additional support from a wide array of local businesses and organizations.

All food collected on behalf of the drive will be donated to and distributed by the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

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