With increasing hunger in the D.C. area, students are reaching out to help more people enjoy the holidays this season.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual report on food insecurity, more District residents are struggling to find enough food for their households than in previous years. From 2003 to 2005, about 11 percent of District residents were living in households considered food insecure, up from about nine percent from 2000 to 2002. Food security characterizes access to enough food to meet basic needs.
It has been 11 years since the Neighbors Project-a volunteer placement program in GW’s Office of Community Service-partnered with Bread for the City, a private, non-profit organization that provides a variety of free services to more than 10,000 city residents a month, said Adrienne Ammerman, Bread for the City’s director of Marketing and Special Events.
BFC has centers located in the Washington’s Shaw and Anacostia neighborhoods and offers food, clothing, medical care and legal aid to those it serves.
“The original goal of the Neighbors Project was to collaborate with community partners in the Shaw neighborhood of D.C. to address unmet needs and provide tangible services,” said Kerry Kidwell-Slak, the assistant program coordinator of the Neighbors Project.
GW places anywhere from four to 12 volunteers at BFC annually, Kidwell said.
Regular volunteers looking for client interaction can do “intake,” which means interviewing potential new BFC clients, or they can assist in administration.
“(Volunteering for me) was also like a mental steam valve because it gave me a chance to focus on something other than my GPA, (it gave me) a sense of perspective on my problems, and it raised my self esteem a lot because I was making a difference in people’s lives,” Ammerman said.
Valentine Woods, 23, the volunteer coordinator for BFC and a non-degree student at GW’s School of Public Health, is also enthusiastic about the program.
“For our clients, seeing students volunteering really shows them that people care about them. They especially love to see young volunteers because it means that the next generation is dedicated to helping them,” Woods said. “And for us, having students help out is great. Most of our volunteer opportunities are between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and students naturally have much more flexible schedules than people who work full-time.”
Bread for the City has already benefited from Woods’ personal contacts at GW, including being the beneficiary of a grant from a class within the school.
“I’d taken a class with the professor who teaches (PUBH 208) before, and he contacted me to suggest that they write this grant for (BFC) as one of the three they do over the semester,” Woods said.
Former GW student Geoff Milsom has teamed up with BFC in a totally different way.
“I was the (Student Activities Center) representative for the baseball team, and I got to thinking that D.C. Snacks should do something charitable, especially with the holidays coming up. The next day, I met some BFC representatives and within two weeks, the middle of October, we had a whole section of the Web site set up for donations,” said Milsom, a 2005 GW graduate and vice president of Operations for D.C. Snacks, a local food delivery service.
Students can donate cans in one of two ways, either by clicking on the Web site or by donating any cans they may have lying around to couriers dropping off food.
“At only $1.10 a can, it’s an easy way to make a difference,” Milsom said, adding that the cans are donated at cost, so D.C. Snacks doesn’t make a profit off of them.
The Neighbors Project also works with other charity groups around the city aimed at eliminating hunger including Capital Area Food Bank, So Others Might Eat, Foggy Bottom Food Pantry and Miriam’s Kitchen, among others.
“College is a time to grow-and not just intellectually. Volunteering in a low-income area is a great way to become a more-rounded person,” Woods said. “It lets students step out of the insular world that a college campus can be.”
