Trucks take over The Row

Ten food trucks are set to turn The Row into a foodie’s paradise from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday for USC’s second annual Food Truck Wars.

Food Truck Wars is a philanthropic event hosted by USC’s Interfraternity Council, USC’s Panhellenic Council and Chewse.com, a catering company, formerly known as Dish Dash L.A., started by two USC students.

Roach coach · This year’s Food Truck Wars will be highlighted by the addition of new caterers, such as Lake Street Creamery, the newly launched Macaroni and Cheese Factory and Uncle Lau’s BBQ — all of which will donate 10 percent of their sales to USC’s Troy Camp. - Photo courtesy of Gary Ferguson

All the trucks at this year’s event will be new. The newly launched Macaroni and Cheese Factory will serve various styles of cheesy goodness, and Uncle Lau’s BBQ will bring a taste of the islands to the streets. If sweets are more your thing, The Buttermilk Truck and The Lake Street Creamery, among others, have signed up.

The trucks will be split into two teams, one representing Interfraternity Council and one representing Panhellenic Council, whereas last year the east and west sides of The Row competed. The team that raises the most money will receive a trophy that will be passed around among its houses.

“Everyone is trying to do competitions on The Row,” said Helen Pastores, vice president of philanthropy for Panhellenic Council. “We thought instead of competing as houses it would be a lot easier if we compete as a whole.”

Greek and non-Greek students are welcome to chow down at the event. Ten percent of the proceeds will go to Troy Camp, USC’s oldest philanthropy benefitting children in the community.

Event organizers, such as USC alumna and Chewse.com founder Tracy Lawrence, chose to go a different route with this year’s fundraising after $1,600 was raised for Downtown-based nonprofit organizations at last year’s event.

“We wanted to keep it community-oriented and close to the students’ hearts, and Troy Camp is clearly really close to students,” Lawrence said.

Joanna Brodecki, director of yearlong programming for Troy Camp, hopes the funds raised from this year’s Food Truck Wars will help send a group of children to Disneyland as part of the group’s monthly adventures around the Los Angeles area.

“Our goal is to create stable adventures and show them that it is important to set goals and have something to work towards,” Brodecki said.

Organizers of the event, including Brodecki, have been working for almost a year in partnership with the Greek councils, a venture she hopes will be beneficial for all parties.

“[The partnership] is great because that way we can reach out to other organizations,” Brodecki said. “This way, we can help them and they can help us.”

This year’s proceeds are expected to increase, thanks to new sponsors, including Simply Sporty, West 27th Place, Allied Live and LiveNearUSC.com, all of which will give funding to bolster donations.