Not many students can say this Saturday they will help more than 600,000 people in Los Angeles, but members of CSUN’s Save the Planet Club can.

This Saturday the club will be heading to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank to sort and package food.

LA Regional Foodbank Volunteer Coordinator, Michael Espe said club members will be joining 10 other volunteer groups to help sort and package roughly 5,000 tons of donated food.

‘They will be on quality control duty,’ said Espe.

Espe said once packaged, the food is shipped to almost 1,000 organizations that will then distribute care packages to more than 600,000 low-income families and senior citizens in Los Angeles.

Due to the current economic crisis, Espe said there has been an increased pressure on organizations to provide food for those in need. He said Save the Planet’s help could not have come at a better time.

Espe said this will be the second time the club has volunteered at the Foodbank.

Save the Planet President Leandra Hernandez, said the club tries to do a least one event per month.

Last month, it participated in a beach cleanup in conjunction with Heal the Bay.

Since its formation in spring 2008, Hernandez said the club has raised money to build a well in Africa and also held a book drive on campus for the Invisible Children’s Schools for Schools Program through Better World Books, an organization supporting global literacy and reducing waste in landfills.

‘Save the Planet is a social justice club that aims to bring awareness to its members and the CSUN community,’ said Hernandez, a senior liberal studies student. ‘We just want to make a difference.’

For club member Scott Schneider, this Saturday will be his first trip to the LA Foodbank.

Schneider, a junior psychology major, has always been interested in social justice issues and participated in the Venice beach cleanup last month.

‘I had no idea how much trash was on the beach. We picked up around 100 cigarette butts and around 100 pieces of plastic,’ he said.

Schneider was also interested in the social aspect the club membership offered.

‘After the beach cleanup we explored Venice a bit, it was a really fun day,’ said Schneider.

While Save the Planet’s community service projects are global and local, Hernandez said this semester the club will be focusing on local issues.

Hernandez said the groups aim is to not only be active, but also educate members.

‘At our meetings we discuss the poverty levels in Los Angeles and then we go and do something about it,’ said Hernandez.

For more information Save the Planet is listed on CSUN’s clubs and organizations Webpage at http://www.csun.edu/getinvolved/.