On Tuesday, August 16, over 250 JSU students volunteered and bagged sweet potatoes for the West Jackson community. It is called a “Crop Drop,” where excess crops are dropped at a central location. The organizers of the event were the Center for University-Based Development and the Alice Varnado Harden Center for Service and Engaged Learning at JSU and the Society of St. Andrew.

To everyone’s amazement, volunteers were able to bag and give away 20,000 pounds of sweet potatoes in two hours! According to the Society of St. Andrew, this is a record time. At previous Crop Drops through out the state, there are several pounds of produce left over that get donated to food banks. However, Jackson State University broke that trend and was able to give all the food directly to the community in a record time.

We want to apologize to the community residents that came and there was not any sweet potatoes left. We are going to work on another Crop Drop in the future and request more produce to meet the needs of our community.

Shout out to the JSU Freshman Class, West Jackson community volunteers and residents, and McDade’s Grocery Store.

Please click on photos below that were taken by JSU photographers Kari Thomas and Charles Smith.

Potatoes being delivered.

Students greeting community residents.