Hunger and Homelessness

Hunger and homelessness hit close to home recently as student volunteers worked to raise campus awareness about these social problems. The week-long, student organized service campaign kicked off Nov. 13 and included a variety of activities in which people could participate to learn firsthand about the issues of hunger and homelessness in America and around the world.

According to Shruti Kumar, a second-year Psychology major and chair of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, the event "allows people to open their eyes and see what's really going on out there." Sponsored by Mobilizing Opportunities for Volunteer Experience (MOVE), Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week includes different events for each day of the week and concludes with an Action Day planned for tomorrow, Nov. 18.

Monday featured a benefit concert that included three student performances and several speakers from nearby homeless shelters. Tuesday featured a "sleepout" event during which people set up cardboard boxes in Yellow Jacket Park and slept there overnight, relocating to the Student Center when it started to rain. Wednesday featured an interactive homelessness panel on Skiles.

The panel consisted of a photo exhibit and various posters. The posters had various questions posed on them, giving students an opportunity to think about the subject, write a response on a post-it note and post the answer on the poster for all to see.

Thursday featured a Hunger Banquet, Friday addressed global hunger and homelessness and Saturday will include service projects at soup kitchens and homeless shelters in the area.

In addition, a raffle was held throughout the week to raise money for four local homeless shelters: the Salvation Army, Task Force for the Homeless, Genesis Shelter and the First Presbyterian Church Shelter.

Canned goods were collected and clothing drives were held for the shelters as well.

According to Kumar, some of the volunteers also wrote letters to the Georgia and United States legislative bodies about homelessness to make them aware that it is a serious global issue that needs to be addressed.

Some students even visited the mayor's office to talk about homelessness.

One of the major events of the week was the Hunger Banquet, which was held to address the impact of socioeconomic class and income disparities on issues of hunger.

According to Kumar, approximately 60 percent of the world is classified as lower class, 30 percent is middle class and 10 percent is upper class. The result of such class inequities? Upper class people eat well, and lower class people go hungry.

This was reflected at the Hunger Banquet, where 60 percent of those that attended received no food, 30 percent received an average meal of beans and rice, and 10 percent received a gourmet dinner.

The organizers of the banquet hoped to make people more aware of how many people hunger actually affects, and to teach a lesson about how people interact in those situations.

Often, people with more food will give some to those that are less fortunate, which Kumar explained is something that happens throughout the world and needs to happen more.

Kumar said that awareness and action are the two main aspects of the week and emphasized the importance of giving to the cause of reducing hunger and homelessness.

"People always say to donate after natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and tsunamis, but they never say to donate after the continuous, manmade disaster that is poverty, hunger and homelessness. Here at Tech, we want people to at least hear of the awareness week and then hopefully act," Kumar said.

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week is an annual event, but it has not been held since 2004.

"I would like to see hunger and homelessness awareness become more than just a week-long event. I think these are important issues that need to be addressed frequently throughout the year; students need to get involved [in these issues] on a regular basis," Kumar said.