- The Record Archives
- Volume CXVIII, No. XXI - November 17, 2005 -
Helping hands: Students bring awareness to hunger issues
Students take part in National Hunger and Homelessness Week
The Record
When Robyn Meyer walked into a local shelter, she brought more than just food for the group of low-income children. She and the other CSB/SJU volunteers also supplied friendship to the hungry youngsters.
When a boy peered up at a fellow volunteer, Meyer said he eagerly asked, "Are you coming next week?"
Meyer said moments like this are touching and rewarding for volunteers who visit Place of Hope weekly to serve and work with children in poverty.
"The kids are really hungry," said Meyer, a first-year. "It was kind of exciting to be in a role-model position. The happiness you see in all the children … they are really longing for attention."
Meyer, who grew up in St. Cloud, said the experience was eye-opening to the poverty she never knew exists in her hometown.
Other CSB/SJU students may also not know that homelessness and poverty are so close to home.
There are about 400 homeless people in St. Cloud. The Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless surveyed that, as of 2003, there are 20,347 homeless people in the entire state. Of those, some 1,000 are turned away from shelters due to lack of resources.
In Central Minnesota, 71 percent of the homeless are unemployed and 41 percent are homeless for the first time, according to the Coalition. Almost half of the homeless are children.
The reality of these issues have hit home for those who have participated in the Campus Ministries' activities during National Homelessness Awareness Week.
Many students have sacrificed meals to gain understanding and to recognize the issues of poverty and homelessness.
"I just want to understand it on a real level," said junior Ben Westlund.
A group of about 35 CSB/SJU students traveled to the Twin Cities last weekend to participate in the World Vision 30 Hour Famine where they not only temporarily experienced hunger, but also raised almost $1,000 for World Vision's relief and development programs.
"We think [poverty and homelessness] is out there, but we're kind of removed," said Shaun Crumb of SJU Campus Ministries, who participated in last weekend's 30 Hour Famine and Hunger Banquet, which took place on Tuesday. "[These events] bring the issues to real life."
During Tuesday's Hunger Banquet, about two dozen students gathered in the Reef to participate in a simulation about class divisiveness.
The students who represented the lower class were only given a half bowl of rice for their dinner.
As Crumb ate his small portion of rice, he looked around at the packed Reef as many students ate full trays of food.
"I'm just amazed at how much everyone is eating an arms distance away while we eat a bowl of rice with our hands," Crumb said.
Participants said students should become aware of these issues and can make a difference.
"Hunger pertains to a lot of people," said sophomore Vanessa Williams.
"We're the people that can change that."
Carla Durand-Demarais, the associate campus minister at St. Ben's, said students can first help by educating themselves on homelessness and poverty, and second, by responding locally.
There are several shelters and food shelves nearby that need volunteers and donations.
"Because of the Benedictine values, we should definitely know these issues and apply them to the real world," Westlund said. "Not enough people appreciate what they have."