Holiday food drives begin Nov. 15

Mail Services (Davis and Sacramento campuses) and Campus Recreation are once again organizing holiday food drives. Both are scheduled to begin Nov. 15.

• Mail Services — This drive, now in its fifth year, features a donation process that could not be much easier. You simply leave canned food and dry goods with your outgoing mail — to be picked up by Mail Services personnel.

This drive runs Monday through Friday, Nov. 15 through 19, with Davis campus donations going to the Food Bank of Yolo County, and Sacramento campus donations going to the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services.

Fliers give examples of the kinds of goods that are welcome:

Canned meat, fish and soups; canned ready-to-eat meals; canned vegetables and tomato products; peanut butter (plastic containers); iron-rich cereal (45 percent or more daily value), 100 percent fruit juice (plastic bottles, 48 ounces or smaller); canned fruit, in juice; dry beans; enriched rice and pasta; powdered milk; ramen; boxed macaroni and cheese; powdered milk formula and Similac baby food.

• Campus Recreation — This food drive, in its second year, is scheduled to run from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15, with three drop-off points: the Activities and Recreation Center, the Craft Center and Outdoor Adventures. At each location, look in the lobby for a donation bin with a red bow.

Acceptable goods include canned foods (stew, chili, soup), tune and canned meat, peanut butter, low-sugar cereals, 100 percent fruit juice, canned fruit in juice, and canned vegetables. Please, no perishable or frozen items, and nothing in glass.

Campus Rec plans to turn over all donations to the Food Bank of Yolo County.

Commencement regalia

Faculty members are being encouraged to get their orders in for the borrowing of academic robes and the rental of non-UC doctoral hoods, for use at fall commencement Dec. 11.

• Non-UC hoods — Faculty members are advised to go through their departments, which then submit their orders to the bookstore. The rental fee is $20 per hood for orders that come in by Nov. 5; after that a rush-handling charge of $10 will be added. Online ordering.

• Robes, UC hoods, and caps and tassels — The Central Storehouse loans these items for free. Four different kinds of robes are available: bachelor’s, master’s, Ph.D. and M.D.

Orders are due at the storehouse by Dec. 3, preferably via the online ordering system. To request a hard-copy order form, or to arrange delivery or ask other questions, call Terry Chase at (530) 752-9184.

More calendars

Our campus poster calendars are only 2 months old, for the 2010-11 academic year, and now we have an opportunity to get a different kind of wall calendar — personalized and free!

The 11-inch-by-17-inch posters for the 2011 calendar year are from Repro Graphics — which is giving them away as a way to demonstrate the variable data capability of the unit’s Hewlett-Packard Indigo 5000 digital color press.

What does "variable data capability" mean? It means that each printed piece can be customized; for example, for your free calendar (one per university employee), you can highlight two dates per month of your choosing (birthdays, anniversaries or holidays, for example), you can choose the background color, and you can choose from among 10 UC Davis photo images.

This capability is increasingly used in marketing activities where personalized publications yield higher results, said Brian Wadell, director of Repro Graphics.

Repro Graphics has set up an online ordering system for the free calendars. Orders are due by Nov. 24; a charge will apply to orders that come in after that date.

Repro Graphics launched the calendar promotion two years ago, giving away 1,511 for 2009 and 2,265 for 2010.

“The calendar was initially intended as a one-time demonstration project,” Wadell said. “But it was so popular, we repeated the offer ... and now it’s becoming something of a campus tradition. People like the personalized aspect of the calendar, and we think they also take pride in UC Davis and like to show it off.”

And, while offering free calendars, Repro Graphics also is promoting the fact that it can produce custom calendars starting at just $1 each, based on a minimum quantity of 300.

“Just send us your photos and personalized dates and we promise to get your completed calendars back to you by the end of 2010,” Repro Graphics announced.