When Mojo spotted Samantha Janes approaching the school bus with a bag of food, a DJ for WWDX (92.1-FM), The Edge, sprinted to her, embracing her in a bear hug.
“I try to meet everyone who donates,” Mojo said, pointing to the school bus bearing signs for the radio station - the official collection spot for the “Stuff the Bus 2002” campaign.
Janes, a history senior, finished shopping at Goodrich’s Shop-Rite, 940 Trowbridge Road, and walked across the parking lot to the school bus to donate some food for the campaign, which began at 6 a.m. Monday and ends today at noon.
“I volunteer for a homeless shelter, so I know how important food is for people who can’t afford it,” Janes said.
The campaign will collect donated food and clothing for the Red Cross Regional Food Distribution Center, 2116 Mint Road in Lansing. To help make a statement for the event, Mojo has camped out in a trailer behind the bus since Monday morning.
“I’m going stir-crazy,” he said, as he leaned back on the couch in the tiny trailer. “On Tuesday, man, I didn’t think I’d make it - I was going nuts. But then I would just step on the bus and remember what I’m doing this for.”
The bus has already been completely stuffed with donations once, emptied, and the volunteers hope to fill it a second time.
“We’re right on course,” Mojo said. “We’re gonna raise a few tons of clothing and food.”
Mojo has also been hosting his daily morning show from the trailer that has featured several Lansing area leaders, such as Lansing Mayor David Hollister, East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows and East Lansing Police Department Capt. Juli Liebler.
But, even with occasional guests, Mojo said he is lonely for his family.
“The hard part is being stuck in this trailer and not being able to see my family, my fiancee and my pets,” he said. “But even now, being here, I know where I’m sleeping, and I know I’ll be warm.”
He said he wants to remember the people who don’t have a home or food.
And Goodrich’s Shop-Rite helped the cause as well, providing Mojo with deli-fresh meals and packaging bags of food that customers may purchase.
“There’s been a really good response,” store manager Bruce Grambau said. “People will come in just for that.”
Volunteers from the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega helped out with the campaign. Member and child development junior Becky Martin said she became concerned with the problem of hunger on an Alternative Spring Break trip last year.
“It really turned things in perspective about how some people live in our society,” she said. “I just wanted to come out and help.”
