The Mail Services Holiday Food Drive marks its 10th anniversary this year, and what better way to celebrate than by helping to make this one the biggest ever.

It’s actually two drives: one on the Davis campus (for the Yolo Food Bank) and one in Sacramento (for Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services). Mail Services personnel run them both, picking up donations with outgoing mail. This year’s collection runs through Friday, Nov. 20.

“We make it easy for employees to donate, and we're happy to do it,” said Jen Carmichael, general manager of Distribution Services, who has been coordinating the combined Holiday Food Drive since it began in 2006.

The Davis and Sacramento mail teams actually started collecting food for the holidays in 2005, but did so independently of each other. They began marketing the drive as a collective effort the next year — thus making the 2015 drive the 10th annual, dating from 2006.

The food drive statistics, however, go back to that first year, 2005. “UC Davis employees have always been very generous,” giving 8.5 tons of food over the years, Carmichael said.

Here’s a list of suggested items to donate: canned, ready-to-eat meals; canned meat, fish and soups; canned vegetables and tomato products; dry beans (any type); enriched rice and pasta; ramen; boxed macaroni and cheese; canned fruit (in juice); peanut butter (plastic container); iron-rich cereal (45 percent or more of daily value); powdered milk; fruit juice (100 percent, in plastic containers 48 ounces or smaller); and powdered milk formula and Similac baby food.

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