Founded in 2013, The 12th Can is a student-run food pantry that serves Texas A&M students, faculty and staff struggling with food insecurity.
On April 24 at 8:30 a.m. in Koldus Plaza, The 12th Can will host the first annual 5Kan Fun Run to raise awareness and funds about food insecurity on campus. All proceeds made from the event will go toward the fully functional food pantry. Attendees have access to free parking in Lot 62.
Public Relations director and biomedical sciences junior Jeffrey Welch said the 5K is extremely important for The 12th Can as an organization because it is one of the only times it has involved the student body in fundraising.
“Previously, we have focused more on former students and interested third parties for donations and other support; however, the 5K allows us to not only involve current students in supporting us, but also is just a fun event to get to know people and have a good time,” Welch said in an email to The Battalion.
With a goal to reach more students, finance director and business junior Joseph Rodgers said The 12th Can executive board was motivated to host a 5K to improve awareness.
“We wanted to reach out to more students to let them know of our services. We wanted to outreach to faculty because they are a large part of the institutional and intellectual capital that is Texas A&M,” Rodgers said. “We wanted to let them know of our services and also for them to pass that knowledge along to students that they believe are experiencing food insecurity. We thought a 5K Fun Run would be an excellent way to increase the visibility through an event, while also doing a little bit of fundraising.”
For $15 during early registration, Welch said runners will receive a shirt and catered food from Las Palapas tacos, Shipley Do-Nuts and Tiff’s Treats.
“Through the incredible effort of our team we have secured many amazing donors who believe in our mission and are helping to make the event not only profitable for us, but also provide the runners with a great time,” Welch said.
Development director and child professional services senior Hannah Puddy said there is often confusion about The 12th Can and its purpose.
“They don’t know that we’re a fully operational food pantry, ourselves, that so many people can get services from, and not just students, staff and faculty at A&M as well,” Puddy said. “There’s thousands of people we can serve and we only serve about 300 per opening, which is a lot compared to what we used to, but in general, not even a quarter of the campus knows who we are or what we do. A lot of people think it’s just a volunteering opportunity to come and help us out, but we’re actually a student org and everything is student run.”
Rodgers said many students and faculty are faced with a hard decision on how to spend their income each month.
“We exist to help people not only sustain themselves and their families and their households, but also to make those choices a little bit easier,” Rodgers said. “If they know that there’s a reliable supply of food that they can access, then maybe they can decide to pursue health care, or maybe they can have the means to pay rent.”
Welch said the 5K serves as a turning point for The 12th Can.
“Now, The 12th Can is branching out and organizing fun events for the community as a whole to come enjoy and learn more about food insecurity while their entrance fees go toward fighting it,” Welch said.
