High Point University’s Department of Physician Assistant Studies celebrated Physician Assistant (PA) Week (Oct. 6-12) with a friendly food drive collection competition with a Halloween twist. The department collected nearly 1,300 individual items of food to donate.

The competition was between first-year PA students and faculty to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina by collecting nonperishable items. Faculty and students were split into different Hogwarts houses, which is from the popular Harry Potter book and film series. The competition was to see which of the four houses could collect the most food. The house with the most items won the Hogwarts House Cup.

“Working with the Piedmont Association of Physician Assistants (PAPA) to raise donations for the Second Harvest Food Bank has been a wonderful and rewarding experience,” said Christa Shaner, a first-year PA student from Salisbury, Maryland. “I am so grateful to my fellow classmates, HPU PA faculty and staff for their excitement, passion and participation in this event.”

The food drive was held in collaboration with the Piedmont Association of Physician Assistants and is known as PAPA Fights Hunger. It is a community service initiative aimed at tackling the issue of food insecurity and hunger in the Piedmont Triad. This food bank is the major source of food and grocery products for more than 450 nonprofit food assistance programs in the area.

“Being a part of this makes me feel proud that I am making a difference in contributing to our community,” said Bill Hagmeier, a first-year PA student. “This is where we will see many of our patients during clinicals in our second year of the program and possibly once we graduate as health care providers. We’re helping them now and helping them in the future.”

All the food items will be delivered to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina on Thursday.