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Students can help the local community through various activities
As part of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, Lafayette students will sleep outside in a hut on the Quad, make and deliver sandwiches to homeless people in Philadelphia, fast for 30 hours to feel hunger, meet and listen to Easton homeless men and women, write to Congressional and local officials, and raise money for a new kitchen in the Easton Area Community Center.
The weeklong program, Nov. 15-21, is an annual campus event coordinated by the Landis Community Outreach Center to raise awareness about homelessness and hunger in America and around the world. For more information, contact Chaplain John Colatch, director of religious life, at x5320.
On Saturday, Nov. 15, the week will begin with a “Midnight Run” to Philadelphia. Students will make sandwiches and bag meals outside of Farinon Student Center 4-6 p.m. and deliver the food to the homeless in Philadelphia later that night from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Student groups will also spend Saturday night sleeping in a Lafayette-made hut on the Quad in one-hour shifts from noon on Nov. 15 until noon on Sunday, Nov. 16. Participating groups donate at least $25 for the privilege of sleeping in the hut.
An Oxfam Hunger Banquet will be held Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. Participating students will select a card that entitles them to a meal at first-, second-, or third-world levels. About 7 percent of students receive a full-course dinner, 30 percent of the students get rice and beans for dinner, and the remaining 63 percent of students get only a bowl of rice and must sit on the floor. Colatch will lead a discussion with the students about the distribution of food resources in the world and how changes in the economy can move people down a level.
A 30-hour famine will be held on campus from noon on Wednesday, Nov. 19 through 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20 to get a feel for the hunger many in the world live with daily. Fasting students will spend meal times in the Marlo Room of Farinon College Center making T-shirts and avoiding food. The price of the missed meals is donated to fight world hunger.
Men and women from local homeless shelters in Easton will share stories of their trials and tribulations on Friday, Nov. 21 from noon to 1 p.m. in a talk, “Faces of Homelessness.” The program will be held in the Interfaith Chapel of Hogg Hall.
All week students will be encouraged to express their concerns about homelessness and hunger to local officials and members of the U.S. Congress. Students are particularly concerned about Bethlehem Township’s recent cut in aid to the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley (CACLV), an anti-poverty organization which funds homeless shelters and food banks in the area. Letters will be written on plates at the Hunger & Homelessness Awareness table during meal times.
Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week will end with a dunk tank to raise money for a new kitchen in the Easton Area Community Center. Students will try to dunk their resident assistant (RA) on Friday, Nov. 21 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the Quad.