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The School of Health Professions collected 523 pounds of food in its student-led holiday food drive — enough to provide 409 meals.

The food collected Nov. 15 through Dec. 12 was donated to the San Antonio Food Bank.

First-year Physician Assistant Studies student Jo-Anne Espinosa said she proposed the food drive as a simple way for students to give back to the community. She would like to see the drive become an annual holiday effort to address the problem of food insecurity.

“I feel like it’s something that people tend to overlook just because were in America,” said Espinosa. “That really doesn’t mean there aren’t families out there that aren’t lacking in the basic necessities. I think this is a good way to help them out and bridge that gap.”

The food drive also served as a competition among the School’s programs, with the winning program offered a pizza party as a prize. The Respiratory Care program won with 138 pounds of food collected, followed by Clinical Laboratory Sciences with 102 pounds, Physician Assistant Studies with 111 pounds, Occupational Therapy with 68 pounds, Physical Therapy with 66 pounds and Emergency Health Services with 10 pounds.