Tuesday Nov.19, 2002
The Union Leader
St. Anslem students form group to spur homeless awareness
By Amy Abbott
Union Leader Correspondent
Goffstown-Most people can only imagine what it would be like to be homeless. This week, students from St. Anslem College will try to bring clarity to people's view of homelessness in an effort to spur change and activism.
As a part of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, a few students organized banquet, forums and "sleep-outs" for anyone wanting to learn about what it's like to be homeless and hungry.
The newly formed Student Coalition Against Hunger and Homelessness envisioned the week long event when several soon-to-be members and founders attended a conference in Philadelphia a few weeks ago.
"About three or four of us went to this annual convention called National Hunger and Homelessness conference," said Chelsea Pierce, co-founder of the student organization. "When we were there, we realized how much people in our school aren't aware of when it comes to homelessness and something had to be done."
The group of St. Anslem juniors, John Bozicas, Stephanie Jalbert, and Pierce, attacked the problem with enough energy to organize the new student volunteer group and coordinate their efforts in time to coincide with the National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.
Yesterday started when St. Anslem students brought dinner for 30 children from Kid's Cafe in Manchester, a non-profit organization that serves dinner to children from low-income families and provides activities and helps with homework.
The St. Anslem students buddied up with the kids in the cafeteria and used their meal cards to foot the bill.
Next it was off to bed, outside.
Fourteen students were scheduled to huddle in makeshift tents at 9:30 p.m. outside Alumni Hall while tempatures dipped into low 30s. Participants could bring whatever they wanted such as a sleeping bag or four. A grill in the center of the pop-up village will be the vigil site every night until Thursday at 10p.m. for a different speaker from the campus ministry.
"It will set the tone and get people thinking about the social structures homelessness is founded on," Pierce said.
To make a point about hunger, the group organized a banquet tonight in the North Lounge of the Cushing Center at 6:30 p.m. Invitations were sent out to volunteers at area organizations and students and teachers of Manchester high schools. The public is also welcome to attend.
The banquet begins by participants drawing a card that will give them a new identity. They will either be from a high, middle or low-income class. Their status will determine what they will eat.
"the high income group will have a four course meal and be served. The low-income will get a bin of white rice and water and no plates or silverware," Pierce said. Those people will have to scoop rice from a community bowl with their hands.
"The middle income bracket will get beans and rice and water, " Pierce said. "They get plates and silverware.
Throughout the dinner, some people will be singled out randomly to switch ranks.
"Its an exercise to demonstrate you have no control over where you are born into," Pierce said.
Cash and canned good donations willbe accepted at the door.
Tomorrow night will feature a forum called, "Faces of Homelessness" in the north lounge of the Cushing Center at 6:30 p.m.. Five members of Under The Bridge, a homelessness support goup in Manchester, who are now or have been homeless, will speak aboiut their experiences on the street.
The week will wrap up on Thursday night with a final "sleep-out" and a "speak-out."
The Student Coalition Against Hunger and Homelessness will set up at Davidson Hall and be available to answer questions throughout the day. People are being asdked to sign letters to lawmakers to promote legislation that addresses hunger and homelessness. Literature about what they are signing, such as the Poverty to Promise Act and the National Housing Trust Fund, will be available for people to take with them.
"We are trying to increase awareness of the problems we have right here and all over," Peirce said. "we're trying to get people to own repsonsibiltiy to the hunger and homelessness issue