Boston University students are working with Boston area organizations to provide meals for low-income individuals during the Community Service Center’s first year of participating in National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.
Volunteers in the CSC’s Student Food Rescue program are working in conjunction with the Greater Boston Food Bank and Boston area food bank Community Servings to help box and ship meals to citizens in need this week, said SFR co-chair Isabell Fathy.
“This is a chance where people can actually meet the people that they are delivering these meals to and the people that are facing some of these issues,” Fathy said.
The SFR is also participating in Pie in the Sky, a program that delivers thousands of pies to families in need during the Thanksgiving holiday, Fathy said. They held a volunteer event Saturday, and will also participate Nov. 25 through Nov. 27.
“We’re helping to box and deliver pies to individuals that would not normally be able to cook for themselves,” Fathy, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, said. “… Going to that warehouse, you see tons and tons of food. Knowing that that goes out, you see how many families [are affected by hunger].”
Local restaurants and food banks, including Community Servings, Top of the Hub and Dunkin Donuts, which contributed over 600 pies, donated to the relief effort, she said.
Fathy said the SFR’s involvement in National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week raises awareness of these issues at BU.
“It makes you want to delve deeper into the problem and brings you in on a more personal level,” she said. “If you don’t have an issue in front of you and its not your issue, its hard to relate. But the second you can understand and have a way to relate, it definitely makes it more of your issue.”
Fathy and her fellow co-chair Nicole St. Louis, a junior in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, are also participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Challenge, or SNAP Challenge, in which they eat all of their meals on a limited food budget of $4.50 a day.
Fathy said she has been sustaining herself on microwaved potatoes and bagels, and St. Louis has been eating orzo and rice since Saturday.
“I would never be able to fully comprehend the difficulties of decisions for low-income families,” she said. “It’s not fully comparable, but in some way I can share the experience of understanding the issue of hunger in America.”
Former SFR program manager and current volunteer Andrew Weaver said he has volunteered at the Greater Boston Food Bank several times and is enjoying collaborating with them for Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.
“The Greater Boston Area Food Bank is the greatest distributor of food in the area, and one of the biggest in the country,” Weaver, a College of Communication senior, said. “It’s one of the most successful non-profits in the Boston area. It’s very well known. It’s really cool that we get to work with them in this week.”
SFR Co-Chair of Transportation Frank Bolella, said the CSC’s participation in Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week helps to provide assistance for families in need around the holidays.
“It’s going to really help out people around the Boston community who are without food at this time, with Thanksgiving being right around the corner,” Bolella, a School of Management sophomore, said.
While this is the first year that the SFR has volunteered for National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, Fathy said SFR hopes to continue participation in coming years.
“We’re trying to adopt it into the program,” Fathy said. “… Knowing that some students are involved and that there are people participating in the week is good enough, so far, to get it started.”
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