Volunteer
Better Together Service Days with BECU
We may be rivals on the field, but University of Washington and Washington State University alumni know — when it comes to tackling big problems, we’re better together.
Along with longtime partner BECU, the WSU and UW Alumni Associations united this summer to support our neighbors, invest in our communities and fight summer food insecurity. From July 24 – July 30, Dawgs and Cougs alumni left the competition on the field and volunteered side-by-side in food support service centers as part of the inaugural Better Together Service Days with BECU.
Here in Washington, Cougars, Huskies and BECU staff volunteered together at Second Harvest in Spokane and at Food Lifeline in Seattle. UW alumni in Washington DC took part by volunteering at Thrive DC. Dawgs and Cougs in southern California gathered to help at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Additional volunteers across the country showed their school spirit and gave back to their communities all through the week, tracking their volunteer hours, food donations and monetary contributions. BECU collected food donations for area food banks as well!
Together, we exceeded our goal of activating 250 volunteers. To celebrate this accomplishment, BECU is donating $10,000 to fight food insecurity in Washington with $5,000 donations each to Food Lifeline and Second Harvest.
Washington DC
The DC Dawgs cooked and served the morning meal at Thrive DC.
—Erin Yoshida, ’92
College of Arts & Sciences (English)
Spokane, WA
Alums from UW and WSU gathered to sort and repackage food for disaster relief boxes.
Los Angeles, CA
Huskies and Cougars pitched in together at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, sorting and repackaging food donations. Even the carrots had their dubs up!
Across Washington State
In addition to volunteering at the in-person events, BECU staff collected food donations at 56 of their branch locations across the state. Community members donated 488 pounds of food!
Seattle, WA
Dawgs and Cougs worked with bulk bags of steel cut oats at Food Lifeline.
Seattle, WA
Volunteers repackaged bulk steel cut oats into family-sized bags at Food Lifeline.
—Londa Lewis, ’04
UW Bothell (Liberal Studies)
Seattle, WA
Volunteers from BECU, UW and WSU pose together after working at Food Lifeline.
—Anne Murkowski, former research staff
College of the Environment (School of Oceanography)
Thank you to our partners:
