Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The word on the streets is that students are being taught new ways to address homelessness in the Lawrence community.
The Jewish student organization KU Hillel, along with the Coca-Cola Grant Foundation, is hosting “Robert Egger Presentation — How You Can Be A Part of the Solution.”
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Robert Egger
Egger, an influential leader in the nonprofit world, will discuss the issues of hunger and homelessness in Lawrence at 7 p.m. tonight in the Alderson Auditorium. Egger is the president and founder of the D.C. Central Kitchen, where unemployed men and women learn marketable culinary skills while donated food is converted into balanced meals for homeless people. The theme of the presentation is youth empowerment and social entrepreneurship, to motivate students to be active in their communities.
“Robert will be speaking to the students, not just about the importance of youth being involved in their community,” Jonathan Eisen, justice intern at KU Hillel and organizer of the event, said.
“He is developing programs that are geared towards student participation such as Campus Kitchens, which is based off of the D.C. Central Kitchen concept and we here at KU have the opportunity to bring this great program to our campus,” he said.
Eisen, St. Louis junior, said that J-Lead Tzedek, a KU Hillel group, brought Egger to speak as a part of the group’s effort to focus on issues of hunger and homelessness.
Continue reading about homelessness here.
“Our community is currently facing a lot of issues such as the closing of the Salvation Army emergency shelter,” Eisen said.
After Egger’s discussion, J-Lead Tzedek will host an opportunity fair, which will highlight the work that nonprofit organizations in the community provide. Signed copies of Egger’s book, “Begging for Change,” will also be available.
During an alternative spring break last year, Eisen learned that in the National Coalition for the Homeless “10 meanest cities towards the homeless,” Lawrence was ranked second, but had been number one in the past.
Dena Hart, Chicago senior, went on the alternative spring break to Washington, D.C., with Eisen. Hart said during the first part of the trip they visited soup kitchens such as D.C. Central Kitchen and So Others Might Eat (S.O.M.E).
While there, the students volunteered to serve lunch at S.O.M.E and then worked at one of the after-school programs, where they played with children who live in impoverished neighborhoods, Hart said. She said the group had heard from people who were homeless or who had overcome it.
“The highlight of the trip was the National Coalition for the Homeless Urban Plunge program. For 48 hours, we were put on the streets of D.C. with only identification, sleeping bag, jackets, and anything else that could fit in our large, black garbage bag we carried around with us,” Hart said. “At last, we lobbied on the Hill about homelessness issues in D.C. It was very powerful to be able to express ourselves after such an intense experience.”
Anne Bracker, a member of the board of directors for the Lawrence Community Shelter, said that local results from the 2009 Point-In-Time Survey on Homelessness wasn’t available yet but that the latest numbers available identified half of the homeless individuals in Lawrence as members of families with children. Additionally, 54 people were chronically homeless, 23 percent had a disability and four percent were veterans.
Nora Freyman, St. Louis freshman, and member of J-Lead Tzedek said she learned at J-Lead meetings that the city of Lawrence is one of the cruelest cities to the homeless population. Freyman said there was only one homeless shelter in Lawrence so the homeless had few places to turn to.
“I feel that we are making a huge difference for the Lawrence Homeless Shelter,” Freyman said. “After volunteering there first semester, I realized how much they really need our community’s help.”
— — Edited by Melissa Johnson
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