By Natalie Wheeler, Staff Writer -- wheeler12@up.edu
With nearly 1 in 5 American families struggling to put food on the table this Thanksgiving, UP students try to make a difference.
It's 6:15 on a biting November morning. The sun is still hiding, yet sophomores Rachel Ayersman, Molly Cochran and Michael Bunn are already up, awake and surprisingly alert. Outside, a long line of homeless men and women wait to be served.
That line could grow longer.
A recent Gallup poll found that nearly 1 in 5 Americans lacked the money to buy the food that they needed at some point during the year.
The survey was administered to 1,000 people every day for two years. Among families with children, the rate of hunger was 1 in 4.
Students such Ayersman, Cochran and Bunn volunteer at the Blanchet House, an organization started by UP students, which serves three free meals a day and houses around 30 men.
But UP's fight against hunger doesn't stop there. The Student-Led Unity Garden (SLUG) is now getting involved by providing its spoils to nine struggling families.
"Having this project ensured that (SLUG) was going to reach outside the UP bubble," Rachel Caldwell, SLUG co-president, said. "It allowed us to become active community members."
The idea was proposed last year to SLUG by AIM UP, which is an alternative entry master's program for nursing at UP. Caldwell said they jumped at the chance to make an impact on the surrounding community.
"Oregon is the second hungriest state, which is ridiculous given our resources," Caldwell said.
According to a United States Department of Agriculture study released in 2009, Oregon is only behind Mississippi in hunger. Caldwell hopes that the families that receive SLUG's produce will learn about growing their own organic fare, as well as benefit from the SLUG's food.
Caldwell said that SLUG donated their leftover produce in the past, but donating to the families allowed the club to know where the food was going. All the families live in the New Columbia housing project, which provides affordable housing to people with low-incomes, disabilities or special needs.
On Founder's Day last April, SLUG broke ground for the garden expansion needed to provide for the families. The goal is for each family to receive at least a mid-size box of produce, once a month during the school year and a couple times a month during the summer.
The families were able to join in and harvest during this last crop. Caldwell enjoyed being able to interact with the families SLUG was helping.
"When they were harvesting the vegetables it was fun to see how excited they got, especially the kids," Caldwell said. "They really liked pulling up the carrots."
UP students are also getting involved in fighting hunger through their classes. Ayersman began volunteering at the Blanchet House as a requirement for her Foundations of Education class. However, she wants to continue when it's over.
"I really like it here," Ayersman said. "It really puts things in perspective."
This was the first time serving at the Blanchet House for Bunn. According to Bunn, he had previously volunteered before at Saint Francis Dining Hall, which also serves meals to the poor, and enjoyed connecting with the people there.
"Last time I was (in downtown Portland), there was a guy from St Francis, and he said ‘Hey Michael,'" Bunn said. "You develop a relationship with the people there."
While Bunn enjoys Saint Francis Dining Hall's emphasis on relationship, Ayersman appreciates how Blanchet House assigns her a task right when she walks in the door.
"At Blanchet House, it's very selfless," Ayersman said. "You have a job and you get it done."
With 1 in 5 Americans struggling to afford food, Ayersman believes that it is important to try and make an impact.
"I feel that I am privileged and blessed," Ayersman said. "It's humbling to be able to help."
