2008 Woodie Awards
Homelessness and hunger: Get the crowd moving
Vineeta Singh
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Opinion
We opinion columnists love to bash the university for all the things it does wrong. Every Sunday we sit down and list all the things we can hate on the university for. Nothing makes an opinion column as exciting as some good ol' raging against the machine - but I'm going to do something a little different. This column is going to show some love.
Tomorrow is the last day of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week. But you didn't need me to tell you that - you already knew. You've seen all the signs around the campus, and the little orange awareness ribbons. You may have even stopped by the Office of Campus Programs to pick up your own. You might have donated more food than you ate this week, because every student group you're in is running at least one food or clothing drive.
The entire campus has been abuzz with awareness-raising activities. At the Cambridge Community Center, speakers from the National Coalition for the Homeless shared their experiences during the "Faces of Homelessness" panel, while the Hoff Theater screened Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day for free.
All the different educational and service activities organized on- (and slightly off-) the campus this week have not only raised awareness about the extent to which hunger and homelessness are a problem in our region and across the nation, but they also showed off how a university office can galvanize the entire student body. Tens of thousands of impressionable young people are a great resource for anyone trying to raise awareness about problems of this magnitude, and the Office of Community-Service Learning has given us a great example of how to go about such projects.
After awareness, of course, we've got to move on to action. CSL set the ball rolling, and many student groups have taken that momentum and expanded on it with their own service activities and donation drives. The groups participating represent the entire spectrum of extracurricular activities at the university. All sorts of groups - cultural, academic, sororities and fraternities, religious groups, Residence Hall Association councils - have joined in the effort. With such a wide range of groups participating, we can hope to cast the widest net among students, getting the maximum number possible involved and, at the same time, contribute to the widest number of organizations.
Tomorrow is the last day of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week. But you didn't need me to tell you that - you already knew. You've seen all the signs around the campus, and the little orange awareness ribbons. You may have even stopped by the Office of Campus Programs to pick up your own. You might have donated more food than you ate this week, because every student group you're in is running at least one food or clothing drive.
The entire campus has been abuzz with awareness-raising activities. At the Cambridge Community Center, speakers from the National Coalition for the Homeless shared their experiences during the "Faces of Homelessness" panel, while the Hoff Theater screened Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day for free.
All the different educational and service activities organized on- (and slightly off-) the campus this week have not only raised awareness about the extent to which hunger and homelessness are a problem in our region and across the nation, but they also showed off how a university office can galvanize the entire student body. Tens of thousands of impressionable young people are a great resource for anyone trying to raise awareness about problems of this magnitude, and the Office of Community-Service Learning has given us a great example of how to go about such projects.
After awareness, of course, we've got to move on to action. CSL set the ball rolling, and many student groups have taken that momentum and expanded on it with their own service activities and donation drives. The groups participating represent the entire spectrum of extracurricular activities at the university. All sorts of groups - cultural, academic, sororities and fraternities, religious groups, Residence Hall Association councils - have joined in the effort. With such a wide range of groups participating, we can hope to cast the widest net among students, getting the maximum number possible involved and, at the same time, contribute to the widest number of organizations.
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