Baker University students will have the chance to understand, help and experience poverty as Poverty Awareness Week comes to campus for the first time.
The Office of Service-Learning and Volunteering will be hosting the event that starts Monday and concludes Nov. 16.
“I am using National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week to coincide with a week called Into the Streets Week,” AmeriCorps VISTA Kaitlin Emig said. “This week will advertise my office and all of the services I can provide for students. AmeriCorps VISTA members’ goal is to fight poverty with passion and do that through capacity building programs.”
Activities and events will be held throughout the week to educate students on what’s affecting the community they live in. Emig chose events that have been successful in the past at other schools including the University of Kansas.
“Of course I’m looking forward to all of the events, but the biggest event that I hope to see a lot of campus participation at, and I know will change a lot of people’s views on the hunger and homeless issue, is the hunger banquet,” she said. “The Panhellenic council is helping staff the event, and (sophomore) Iliana Krehbiel is helping with a large part of the event, and together we’re going to have a poverty simulation for the campus. There will be tickets sold during the week, and the tickets are a donation ticket as the money will go directly toward Oxfam, which is a national organization.”
Krehbiel is helping with the educational aspect of the hunger banquet as part of her independent study.
She’s looking forward to the banquet to see what the attendance is like.
“I’m most excited about seeing how great the turnout is. I don’t really know what to expect from it,” she said. “Baker students don’t really get involved with social issues, so I’m really excited to see how big this is and if it’s something that we can continue to do.”
Freshman Makenzie Gorman is also helping with the week’s festivities. She’s doing the public relations and volunteering her time in general for different events and projects during the week.
“I think it’s really important to know what’s going on in your community and in the world around you,” she said. “I think that you should try to help those that are less fortunate than you and if spending a couple of hours throughout my school week is a way to help them, then I’m willing to do that.”
Emig hopes the week will give students an opportunity to see what service projects are available on campus and that they become more involved in nonprofit organizations in return.
“I hope they understand that their service makes a difference and that the students can take it upon themselves to decide how they want to make a difference,” she said. “This is a first-time event, and I don’t want it to be a one-year first-time event. I hope it can be repeated and every year it’ll grow and students become more passionate about these issues.”