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Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week

 

Each year, one week before Thanksgiving, the Department of Campus Life sponsors Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. During this week of awareness, Clayton State students, departments and student organizations team up to present a week of events dedicated to raising awareness about hunger and homelessness and the various issues associated with poverty.

The goal of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week is to educate CSU students about hunger and homelessness in our local, national, and global community, and empower them with the information, tools and resources of ways they can address the crisis.

Previous year's events have included:

OPERATION SANDWICH DRIVE & PACKING PARTY
Campus Events Council and the We Are O.N.E. Interfaith Council is hosted their annual Operation Sandwich Drive. Volunteers were encourage to bring unopened items to the Operation Sandwich Drive table on UC Main Street: loaves of bread, peanut butter, jelly, sandwich meats, cheese, chips, cookies, juice, water. Then, they were asked to join the Operation Sandwich Drive Packing Party in the SAC Laker Lounge. They packed 400 sandwich bags for the St. Francis Table Soup Kitchen in Atlanta Georgia. 

LAKER CARE CLOSET CANNED FOOD DRIVE
The purpose of the Laker Care Closet is to allow the Clayton State community the opportunity to serve its own population by assisting Clayton State students in need with basic living necessities. Non-perishable boxed and canned food donations are being accepted to help re-stock the Laker Care Closet.
Items Needed: boxed macaroni and cheese, instant mashed potatoes, dry pasta, pasta sauce, canned soups, rice, canned vegetables, canned meat (tuna, chicken, etc), peanut butter, jelly, canned fruit, fruit cups, fruit snacks and boxed juices.

TOILETRY CARE PACKETS
Donations of travel sized toiletry items and gallon sized zip-lock bags were accepted to make and distribute care packages in downtown Atlanta to men and women who need them. Items Needed Included: toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, mouthwash, lotion, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, feminine hygiene products, and gallon sized zip-lock bags.

HOT CHOPICS
(Hot Topics + Hot Chocolate = Hot Chopics)
Held in the SAC Laker Lounge guests were treated to a cup of hot chocolate while a panel of guest spoke about and answered questions about the causes, challenges, and stereotypes that are associated with hunger and homelessness.

THE NEW BLACK
Diversity Educational Experiences for Peers (DEEP) screened the film "The New Black". This film explores the oppression within the Black and the LGBT community and their failure to co-exist within a prominent pillar of their communities , The Church. Attendees were asked to see how this relevant issue had affected a percentage of homeless teens and young people in the Atlanta Area.

THROW AWAY THURSDAY
Students having lunch in the Lakeside Café’ on Thursday of Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week participated in an interactive display that brought attention to how much food we waste as a community.

HUNGER BANQUET & SLEEP OUT FOR THE HOMELESS
On Friday of Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week the AmeriCorps National Service Team hosted the Hunger Banquet. The Hunger Banquet is an interactive session that dramatically illustrates how unequally the world’s food resources are divided. Afterwards, attendees were encouraged to stay for the Annual Sleep-Out for the Homeless on the SAC Green. Participants were asked to sacrifice a few hours of comfort to bring awareness to challenges faced by the homeless population.

THE STREET TEAM
All CSU students were invited to meet on Saturday morning of Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week to go into the streets of Atlanta on Saturday and distribute toiletry care packets to men and women who need them. 

If you have any additional questions about the events and programs of the week, please contact lashandahardin@clayton.edu.

Student Learning and Development Outcomes:

Knowledge Acquisition

  • Increase awareness of the populations that are most affected by hunger and homelessness
  • Enhance knowledge of the social, economic and psychological ramifications of poverty

Social/Civic Responsibility

  • Appropriately challenge unfair, unjust, or uncivil behavior of others toward homeless individuals
  • Raise awareness of resources, programs and organizations that serve hunger and homeless populations
  • Motivate self and others to do something to address the needs of less fortunate populations

Interpersonal Competence

  • Become self-aware of personal thoughts and assumptions about poverty and how it affects their views
  • Challenge the stereotypes about poverty and its causes
  • Empathy for individuals that struggle or have struggled with hunger and homelessness