March Madness Food Drive 2026

Can we help join forces again with our Coug brethren up north?

Cal Fam!

Are you ready to go for a FOUR-peat?

As hard as it is for me to believe, it’s been three dang years since we embarked on this journey together – me, representing Cal for the March Madness food drive at the school where I teach up here in Washington; and you, making it happen with your generous donations. The result has been a trio of championships for Cal!

With March Madness upon us once again, you know what time it is.

It’s time to defend that title.

And I have a feeling it’s going to take our biggest effort yet to secure a fourth consecutive title, as we will need to once again overcome this sort of slanderous subversion:

If you’re new to this, you might be wondering why a Washington State alumnus is repping UC Berkeley. The short answer is that I got punked in the first year by another Coug in the building, so I chose the school of my favorite group of fans – my history with Nick, Avinash, Twist, Rob and others dates all the way back to the early days of SB Nation. I thought maybe you’d help me out a little.

Boy, did you ever. So, despite the temptation each year to switch to my alma mater and challenge all my fellow Cougs to exceed the bar the Bears set, I keep coming back. I owe you that! So, for the next three weeks, this is how students are welcomed to my classroom:

Over the past three years, you all have donated more than $4,200 to help provide for the food insecure in our little community of Puyallup, Washington, which I have spent on (insane amounts of) high-needs foodstuffs in the name of the California Golden Bears. Here’s just a sample from trips I made to Winco and Costco last year – you might actually be surprised how challenging it is to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on large quantities of food in packaging for individual families!

Winning is fun, of course, but what it’s actually all about is helping food insecure people in our area stay fed during a time of year when supplies often run low at food pantries after the holiday surge leading up to New Year’s. And I think you all know that the need is even bigger this year than it has been in some time, owing to increased prices everywhere.

Last year, we made a very real difference. From our food drive coordinator:

“The Salvation Army said their cupboards were bare and that the food you all collected is exactly what they were in need of. They said the amount of food donated should be able to feed over 1,000 families over the next 6 months or so! Way to crush it this year, Rams!!!”

Just look at this:

As I alluded to above, last year’s victory wasn’t without some drama. After winning the overall title by a wide margin in the first two years, a new challenger arose: The counseling department. They posted those posters all over campus, pulling out all the stops to try and knock off the behemoth that is the California Golden Bears. It led to a narrower than usual margin, and I have a feeling we’re going to have to step up our game if we’re going to hold them off once again. They are ruthless. But I have no doubt we can do it – when the CALGORITHM sets its mind to something, it achieves it!

While there’s obviously no way to repay your generosity, there is a little something in it for you if we win. Each year, I’ve worn a Cal shirt to class to teach a lesson on the Big Game to my class – complete with Powerpoint. I forgot to take pictures from last year, but here’s the group of young minds from two years ago::

Additionally, a Cal flag continues to hang in a prominent spot in my classroom. I get asked about it fairly frequently (“Bro, why do you have a Cal flag? Didn’t you go to WSU?”), which gives me the opportunity to tell them all about how amazing the Cal community is:

Something to ponder while you prepare your donation: When we win again – and I know we will – what should I do this year? Same thing … or different?

While you’re pondering, I once again humbly ask: If YOU would like to help us address food insecurity in the Pierce County area while also helping my students push through to the overall championship – thereby WINNING A FOURTH DAMN TROPHY FOR CAL – you can send me donations via Venmo (@Jeffrey-Nusser). Or PayPal (jeff.nusser@gmail.com), or Cash App ($Nusscoug), or Apple Cash (send me an email and I’ll send you my number) or good ol’ fashioned check in the mail (again, send me an email and I’ll send my address) … but Venmo is definitely easiest.

Go Bears!