Arlington resident Zy’kerria Cooper, 19, helps package food Oct. 16 at the UTA Maverick Pantry. Students can help support the Maverick Pantry by making donations.
Since Oct. 5, there has been a quiet, playful rivalry taking place between schools around Texas.
It’s not about football, volleyball or even academics. It’s about food and people in need.
UT Shutdown Against Hunger is a food drive competition started by Student Government President Andres Morales and the Maverick Pantry. The competition occurred across various campuses within the UT System.
Eight schools competed against each other to collect the most nonperishable food and hygiene products. The schools were separated into three divisions based on student enrollment. Over 77,000 donations were raised in total, according to the UTA Student Governance website.
Students, professors, organizations and others contributed to the food drive, and UTA managed to obtain over 5,000 donations, winning in its division.
Last fall, Morales, then Student Government vice president, acted on concerns about UTA’s food pantry by hosting a food drive called Fill the Pantry, Fill the Heart. Work on the project started in September and went on to receive over 7,000 food and hygiene items.
The initiative aimed to address food insecurity within the Maverick community during the holiday season, according to previous Shorthorn reporting. Due to its success, it was extended into November.
Following that, Morales said he wanted to do more this year. As someone who has experienced food insecurity himself, he said he wanted to help others facing it now.
The Maverick Pantry was on a similar page as Morales.
“Because it was so successful, the idea had grown to be where, ‘Hey, instead of making this an institution–wide — for just UTA — why not make this where UT System institutions participate?” Maverick Pantry coordinator Courtney Liang said.
Liang said many college students can struggle with food insecurity. She said students might not have an income or have to make difficult decisions between rent, tuition and food.
UT System food drive results
Division A results
UT Health Houston raised 11,113 items
UT Tyler raised 2,660 items
UT Permian Basin raised 229 item
Division B results
UT El Paso raised 35,091 items
UT Dallas raised 20,447 items
Division C results
UT Arlington raised 5,284 items
UT San Antonio raised 1,850 items
UT Austin raised 964 items
“Everyone deserves to have something to eat,” Liang said. “So it’s really important for us to have this donation drive to not only, A, build up our own inventory to give back to our student community, but also, B, to ensure that no Maverick goes hungry.”
The competition wasn’t without its challenges, though. At the end of the first week, UTA’s results were 116 donations, the last in its division, Liang said. Over the course of the next two weeks, however, it saw a rise in donations.
She said the first week’s numbers ignited school spirit. During the second week, Liang said some departments came in and donated.
Competing against UT Austin and UT San Antonio, she said they were neck and neck in the second week, with it being anyone’s game, but in the final week UTA received the bulk of its donations, pulling it into the lead.
St. Vincent Church donated over 88 food kits for students, Liang said. The Student Government donated over 400 items. UTA Police and Military and Veteran Services donated boxes of food and many more continued to donate until the last day.
“It’s just so heartwarming to see how many communities are rising to help, and then also our own campus departments,” she said. “All these departments are like, ‘Hey, how can we help? Hey, how can we reach out to students? What do you need?’ and it’s really great.”
Canned food available for students, faculty and staff is displayed on shelves Oct. 16 at the UTA Maverick Pantry. In 2022, Kroger Co. Foundation donated $250,000 to UTA to help establish the food pantry.
On Oct. 23, Liang did the last sweep on campus for The Shutdown Against Hunger. She went to the donation locations and picked up the last donations to be counted toward the competition.
Back at the Maverick Pantry, volunteers and student workers counted the donations, sorting through them for damaged goods. They checked for dents, whether something was opened or expired, before placing the items onto shelves.
For the duration of the competition, they did this, checking donation bins at various locations across the week, then counting and sorting the donations received.
Liang said they will potentially keep the bins out, giving students easy access to donate through November. Donations can also be made through the Maverick Pantry’s Amazon Wishlist and through monetary donations on its website.
“Everyone’s a winner at the end of the day because we’re helping our students,” she said.
Though they did not surpass the results of the 2025 food drive, Liang said they will continue to see generosity and kindness from people donating throughout the rest of the year.
The UT El Paso won the competition overall, Morales said, raising over 35,000 items. He said seeing the results made him feel really proud about the initiative and how it’s impacting and bringing people together.
“I’m really proud and really grateful for everybody who’s participated in it,” Morales said. “Everybody who had some sort of moving part in this initiative.”
“I hope it continues to grow.”
@atclements03