Weinberg sophomore Michelle Rabkin usually spends her leftover Bonus Bucks stockpiling drinks and buying meals for her friends.

This year she had an alternative.

As part of a new campus philanthropy that allows students to give unused Bonus Bucks to charity, Rabkin was able to donate about $270 to the Chicago Food Depository, one of the city’s largest food banks.

More than 300 students took part in the drive, raising $21,500 over the last two weeks of Fall Quarter.

“I would much rather donate (Bonus Bucks) than have them go to waste,” Rabkin said.

Phi Delta Theta and Delta Sigma Theta approached Sodexho Marriott administrators this summer and pitched a plan that would allow students to put their extra Bonus Bucks toward something other than bulk food purchases at Norris University Center.

Northwestern administrators agreed to support the event, allowing Bonus Bucks that normally would expire at the end of the quarter to go to the Food Depository.

“The results were more than anyone ever expected,” said Regina Robinson, vice president of Delta Sigma Theta. “The final result blew us out of the water.”

Phi Delt Philanthropy Chair Eric Terada said the Food Depository was a natural fit for the program.

“They seemed to be the most prominent (food bank) and I thought it would be a big program,” said Terada, who spearheaded the drive.

Sodexho turned students’ Bonus Bucks into 7,500 pounds of food. That translates into 5,647 meals for Chicago-area homeless, said Beth Lowe who heads the Depository’s donor program.

Students paid for items such as canned tuna, fruit cocktails, and rice and pineapple chunks, which were delivered in late December.

“We thought it was wonderful,” Lowe said. “It was well-needed. They were able to rouse the troops, and we would support them in any way they wanted us to. Hunger is a year-round issue.”

The donated food goes toward the Food Depository’s “Gain a Million Pounds” program, which aimed to raise a million pounds of food for the holiday season. The depository has raised 715,000 pounds, including the Bonus Bucks event, since October 2000, Lowe said.

Terada said the event started slowly but got a boost in the last few days of Finals Week, when more people found out about the charity.

“Friday of Finals Week we had $10,000 alone,” said Terada, a Weinberg junior.

He said he expects the philanthropy’s success to continue every quarter.

“We’re planning on making it a quarterly thing as long as Sodexho and the University support it,” Terada said.