On Nov. 16, a group of Walla Walla University School of Business students helped our local ABC Christian Bookstore host their Growth ABC Food Drive, in collaboration with the Blue Mountain Action Council (BMAC). More than 100 people attended the food drive and raised more than $3,000—the largest food donation recorded by BMAC in recent years.
Stephen Pilgrim, professor of marketing and economics, teaches Principles of Marketing and Principles of Advertising. In both classes, groups of students teamed up with organizations like the ABC, Gospel Outreach Ministries, Coffey Communications, World Trade Centre Tacoma, and Valentine NLL.
Pilgrim finds that projects like these “provide significant grounding for students to apply classroom learned principles and techniques to real and current corporate scenarios. It also helps students to augment their resumes with corporate project endorsements and referrals.”
The food drive was implemented by a team of marketing and advertising students, led by Ashley Cornejo, junior business administration major. Throughout the quarter, they had been working with the ABC to find ways to build awareness and prove them as a strong, Christian resource and community member. After the SNAP cuts were announced, the team decided that a food drive would be a great way to achieve their goals while bringing the community together in a time of need.
The team prepared professional print and digital material, and worked with a variety of clubs, departments, and churches to spread the word. On the day of, WWU’s president Alex Bryan, along with the Social Work Club, Business Club, ASWWU Spiritual, and Legal Studies Club all participated in the event.
Beyond the university, the Upper Columbia Conference and the Successful Transition and Reentry, or STAR, Project—the sole comprehensive reentry organization serving the nine counties of Southeast Washington—attended to offer their support.
“This was definitely a good learning session for myself, but more than that it was just nice to see everyone show up and see our efforts mean something. Everyone played their part and made this event possible. I couldn’t have done it without such an amazing team working alongside me,” said Cornejo.
To learn more about programs in the School of Business, go to wallawalla.edu/business.
Posted Dec. 3, 2025.
