As hunger and homelessness reach their highest levels since the Great Depression, approximately 75 students from the Amherst area participated in the 19th Annual Hunger Cleanup, a national fundraiser to fight hunger and homelessness, on Saturday.
Students from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College and Smith College wrote letters to State Representatives, raised over $2,500 in cash, collected food, and did general labor at the Salvation Army, food banks and shelters around the valley area to help battle hunger and homelessness.
“Hunger isn’t just about food,” said David Sharken, Executive Director of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. “It’s not about canned food and peanut butter. It’s about American policies that keep people in these situations. What I like about this [Hunger Cleanup] is that it includes increasing public awareness, action through working with your hands, and addressing policies. They’re hitting on all three levels, which is great.”
The students planned to meet at Amherst Common at 9:30 a.m., but due to the freezing rain, the Amherst Martial Arts Center offered accommodations for the students to gather inside. After a brief breakfast donated by Henion’s Bakery, Breugger’s Bagels, Stop ‘n Shop and Atkins Farms, students broke into groups and went to their designated volunteer sites. Similar to a walkathon, students found individual sponsors to donate money for each hour they volunteered.
“We did well considering we were thrown a lot of curve balls, one of which was the sleet [causing outside work to be cancelled.] And considering we were asking students to be up at 9:30 a.m. and to bring money, I think it went really well,” said Alexandra Pugh, project coordinator.
“It’s better than sleeping on a Saturday,” said Jason Alexander, a sophomore engineering major, as he mopped the floor of Grove Street Inn, a homeless shelter in Northampton.
Alexander was one of ten students in the volunteer group at Grove Street. The group of ten volunteers was comprised primarily of residents of the Nuance Multicultural Program at Gorman Hall. The students scraped and cleaned windows, fixed storms, and scrubbed the floors at Grove Street, while other volunteer groups worked at soup kitchens, such as Kate’s Kitchen in Holyoke, The Salvation Army in Amherst, and several other sites.
Grove Street is more than a typical shelter said one of its twenty anonymous residents. “It’s a big old farm house, I really like that,” the man said.
Two young local residents came by Grove Street to make a donation while the students were working. The MS Walk, another national event scheduled for the same day, was rained out and dozens of fresh sandwiches were leftover and brought to Grove Street as a donation. Help from local residents continues to be called for, as the rates of hunger and homelessness are growing nationally, and the funding for social services, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), continue to be cut.
Fifty percent of the funds raised will go to the Five-College Soup Kitchen and the other 50 percent will benefit national and international efforts. The event was sponsored locally by MassPIRG, the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts in Hatfield, and other organizations. Nationally, over 8,000 students participated in the event, sponsored by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness.
Students interested in getting involved in similar events may visit the MassPIRG office in room 423A of the Student Union. Future events sponsored by the Hunger and Homelessness Campaign include a food and clothing drive to be held at the end of the semester. Students clearing out their dorms and apartments or other students wishing to make donations may bring clothes and non-perishable food items to the office.
