vista voice

8/7/2019 VISTA Voice

1/6

Ohio Campus Compact

VISTA VoiceVolume 6, Issue 1 August-November, 2010

StaffNicholas WeberEditor, WriterDefiance College

Raven DeVollWriterJohn Carroll U.

Zaia ThombreWriterMarietta College

Rebecca FenslerWriter

Wright State U.

Food Security Edition

When you share your last crust of bread with a beggar, you mustn't behave as if you were

throwing a bone to a dog. You must give humbly, and thank him for allowing you to have a part in

his hunger.- Giovanni Guareschi

Hello to all our readers and fellow

VISTAs, and welcome to the VISTA

Voice! The VISTA Voice is a

quarterly newsletter that is dedicated

to highlighting some of the ambitious

projects that OCC VISTAs from

across the state have been working on.

A new issue is released each quarter,

each themed around a different

poverty alleviation focus area. This

first issue is focused on food security

projects. Among those highlighted are

the 2010 Summer Associate VISTA

program, community gardens and an

interesting new project that can help

you start a food security conversation

in your community or on campus.

Warm regards for the cold months,

-Nicholas Weber, Editor

Editors NoteInside This Issue

Summer Associates

Program

-Page 2

Make a Difference

Day

-Page 3

Alumni Corner-Page 4

The Paper PlateCampaign

-Page 6


2/6

More than 1.4 millionOhioans receive emergency foodassistance each year, accordingto the Hunger in Ohio 2010study released by the OhioAssociation of Second HarvestFoodbanks. Ohio food pantries,soup kitchens, and otherassistance agencies haveexperienced a 78 percentincrease in clients served, many

struggling to choose betweenfood and other basic necessities.Ohio Campus Compact SummerAssociate VISTAs confronted thelack of food security in theircommunities and on theircampuses, creating newprograms to address this issue.Nutrition programs, communitygardens, and food pantries aresome of the VISTA initiatives

created to help communitymembers access food.

Catherine Distelrath, arecent summer associate at JohnCarroll University, served as thekey coordinator for JCUs newc o m m u n i t ygarden. Distelrathand six facultyvolunteers tendedthe garden all

summer, donatingfresh produce tot h e H e i g h t sEmergency FoodCenter located inCleveland. After generating 86pounds of produce, Distelrathrealized the people served by thecenter were unsure how to

integrate the fresh food intotheir daily meals. She began anutrition program for the foodrecipients, educating them onhow to cook the freshvegetables.

Distelraths work with

the food center has helped herto see the effects the recessionand poor economy have had onthe local community. Workingat the center really teaches youthat you cant judge someone by

only looking at them.Different people areg o i n g t h r o u g hdifferent times in theirlives; you just never

know their story, shesaid. Even thoughDistelraths summerof service has come toa close, she still

volunteers with the HeightsEmergency Food Center on aweekly basis. She serves as theyoungest member on its

executive board and is in theprocess of planning a 5K runfundraiser for the spring.Augustine Izzo, a JCU senior, iscontinuing to advance thenutrition program Distelrathcreated to include recipes and

food preparation instructions invarious languages to reach allthe clients served by the center.

Autumn Partlow, one ofthe associates at MariettaCollege, worked on a foodsecurity project too. Partlowserved with Marietta Collegescommunity partner Harvest ofHope, a food recovery programwith a community gardening

component. HOH receivesdonated food from grocerystores that has reached its sell-by date but is still good to eat,and takes the food to areaagencies and pantries. HOHscommunity garden is the 8th inthe county and providesgardening classes,

VISTA Voice, Page 2

Summer Associates Program; John Carroll Universitys New Community GardenbyRaven DeVoll

You cant judge

someone by only

looking at them.

Different people are

going through differenttimes in their lives;

you just never know

their story.


3/6

VISTA Voice, Page 3

plots, seeds, plants, and tools for

those unable to afford

gardening. Last year HOH had

77 gardeners in two

communities. All of HOHs

work is accomplished by more

than 100 volunteers, donating

approximately 2,600 hours in

2009.

Working with HOH,

P a r t l o w c r e a t e d a n d

coordinated a donation-based

farmers market in which

recipients donate only what

they can afford. The produce for

sale is generated from the

community plot of one of the

Harvest of Hope gardens. This

new initiative is completely run

b y R S V P v o l u n t e e r s .

Throughout the summer the

mini farmers market served 20-

30 consistent clients each week.

Heather Eichner, current

OCC VISTA at Mount Union

College, is also addressing food

security during her year of

service in Alliance. Eichner will

be working 10 hours per week

at the Alliance Community

Pantry, a choice food pantry

scheduled to open this

November. She will be co-

writing the operations manual,create review policies and

procedures for the pantry, craft

the volunteer packet, and

completing client assessments

and surveys once the pantry

opens. Mount Union's first

official event in partnership

with the pantry will be the

Trick or Treat for Canned

Goods on Saturday Oct. 30.

On Make a DifferenceDay 2010, volunteers across Ohiojoined together to make adifference in their communities.Ohio Campus Compact VISTAsthroughout the state partner

with members or resources ontheir campus and localcommunities to address issuessuch as hunger andhomelessness where they live.OCC VISTAs are in a uniqueposition to mobilize students asvolunteers for projects of thisnature in the community. The

following are just some of theprojects VISTAs from OCCcoordinated for Make aDifference Day.

On October 23, youthvolunteers and students from

the University of Findlay workedtogether on a project calledOne Matters : ProjectConnecta resource fair forhomeless families or individuals.The event was planned bymembers of communityorganizations such as BlanchardValley Medical System and Legal

Aid of Western Ohio. GwenStembridge, the University ofFindlays OCC VISTA, served asa member of the eventsplanning committee. During theevent, guests were paired with a

volunteer who served as a guidefor the day and were providedmuch needed resources such asflu-shots, blankets, socks, dentalchecks, benefit counseling, legalaid counseling, and hygiene kits.

Continued on Page 4

Fighting Hunger and Homelessness on Make a Difference Dayby Rebecca Fensler


4/6

VISTA Voice, Page 4

Continued from page 3

In Dayton, over 60students and volunteers fromWright State Universitycollected more than 3000

pounds of food for students atWestwood PK-8 School, aDayton public school. WrightState University is currently inits third year of partnership withWestwood School. GillianWynn, Youth ProgramsCoordinator/OCC AmeriCorpsVISTA at Wright State,coordinates tutoring andafterschool programs atWestwood. Volunteers andservice-learning students tutorWestwood students, offeringthem help with homework andhelping them build skills in

reading and math.Westwood School islocated in a low-income neighborhoodand an astounding

100% of students whoattend the schoolqualify for free orreduced lunches.

Sarah Twill, aprofessor in the SocialWork Department atWright State, recognized theneed for additional foodassistance for Westwoodstudents. She had discovered

many children who receive freeand reduced lunches at schooloften go hungry on theweekends; some children maynot eat between lunch on Fridayand breakfast on Monday

morning without theassistance of thes c h o o l l u n c hprogram. To addressthis issue ProfessorTwill and studentsfrom her SocialWork Class (many ofwhom are tutors atWestwood) workedwith WSUs OCCV I S T A , t oimplement the

Good to Go BackpackProgram. Under this programbook bags would be filled withnutritional foods that children

can prepare themselves, such asfruit cups, pudding, and granolabars. Students partnered with alocal Kroger to host a food driveto collect donations for thebackpack program. Studentshanded out information and alist of items being collected tocustomers entering the Krogerstore and encouraged them topurchase items for the fooddrive while they were doingtheir shopping. Enough foodwas collected so that eachWestwood student would beable to receive a bag before theThanksgiving and Christmasholidays.

Alumni Spotlight; VISTA Leaders Pursue MPA Degree at Ohio University

Thinking about what todo next year? Two VISTAalumni, Renee Steffen and KellyHatas, decided to get theirMaster of Public Administrationdegree at the Voinovich Schoolof Leadership and Public Affairsat Ohio University. Renee

served with Marietta College fortwo years focusing on hungerissues, becoming a VISTALeader her second year. Kellywas a VISTA for three years atShawnee State Universityfocusing on environmentalprograms in her first year, and

hunger and homelessness in herlast two. Additionally she alsobecame a VISTA leader in herthird year.

When asked why she

chose to get a degree in Public

Administration, Renee said she

was largely influenced by her


5/6

VISTA Voice, Page 5

supervisor at Marietta College,

Tanya Judd Pucella. She stated,

It wasnt until Tanya

recommended it that I seriously

c o n s i d e r e d a p p l y i n g . Coincidentally enough, Kelly,

with her undergrad in

International Relations, did not

know what she wanted to do,

and found out about the

program through Renee.

Both VISTAs have had

good experiences with the

program. Renee affirmed, Its

been awesome. I couldnt be

more pleased. Im the graduate

assistant for the Nonprofit

Alliance, and some of my work

with the Marietta nonprofits

directly relates to my work

here. Those connections

definitely help, and we are

supportive of each other.

Although Kelly has only just

started her program, she really

enjoys the school work and is

working on implementing a

grant called Together Ohio.

Being a VISTA before

entering grad school has helped

Steffen and Hatas deepen the

meaning of their program.

Renee claimed that she could

draw on her experiences as a

VISTA and relate it to her

course material. Kelly stated,

It gave me direction on what I

felt I should do with my life and

as a career. Both women

talked about how much they

enjoyed the autonomy that they

had as VISTAs and how OUs

program allows them the same

freedom.

Both stated that they did not

have a specific interest area of

poverty alleviation, but rather

they enjoyed working with all

social justice issues. Although

the future is ambiguous for

both of them, Renee said she

could see herself working as the

executive director of a

community foundation or

potentially working with the

state government. Kelly would

like to work with a nonprofit in

a leadership role. Both attribute

the time spent serving with

Ohio Campus Compact to their

choice of a degree in Public

Administration. Kelly states,

Being surrounded by a group

of individuals that all really care

about social justice or changing

or improving upon issues in

society, which nonprofits [also]

seek to address, was really

inspiring.

Their advice for VISTA

members after service: Keep

the VISTA passion for serving

others alive and always carry

the experiences you had with

you.

Program Development at a Glance

Heres a quick glance at the resources OCC VISTAs

have generated between August and November

OCC VISTAs: 34

Total Volunteers: 5182

Baby Boomer Volunteers: 149

Service Hours Contributed: 50,599

Cash Resources Raised: $50,233

Non-cash Resources: $21,180.68

Kelly HatasRenee Steffen


6/6

VISTA Voice, Page 6

In our position as

VISTAs, we work with or hearabout dozens of social actionprojects any given week. Thispast September at aconference for the Ohio BenefitBank, I came across a uniqueidea for raising povertyawareness unlike any I hadencountered before and wantedto share this with everyone else.This project is known as thePaper Plate Campaign.

On July 30th of this year,Dateline NBC aired a specialdocumentary about poverty andfood insecurity in America,chronicling the struggles of aSouthwest Ohio town facing anastounding 70% unemploymentrate. Making the situationworse, the local food bank,

Friends and Neighbors, thesole source of food for many ofthe families in town, wasrunning low on food todistribute and struggling togather enough money to keepits doors open another month.That is when Lisa Roberts, thesole owner/operator of Friendsand Neighbors came up with abrilliant, yet simple idea to

bring national attention to theircause; hand paper plates out tocommunity members andencourage them to write on theplates about their experiences indealing with the recession,unemployment and hunger.Lisa eventually collectedthousands of these plates and

mailed them directly to theWhite House in an effort to getthe governments attention.

Inspired by this event,the Ohio Association of SecondHarvest Foodbanks (OASHF)has taken this idea statewide inwhat it is calling the Paper PlateCampaign. The concept iss i m p l e ; w i t h 1 0 . 5 %unemployment, everyone inOhio has stories about how therecession has affected them orsomeone they know. The paperplate campaign encouragesthem to share their story withlawmakers in Washington.

I mention this becausethe paper plate campaign is agreat opportunity to start adialog about poverty,unemployment or food securityin your community or oncampus. Here at DefianceCollege, we passed out plates atseveral of the ServiceLeadership meetings oncampus, collecting over 100

unique stories. Each meetingquickly turned into aconversation about howstudents are feeling the effectsof the recession in their lives.Some of their confessions wereas surprising as they wereshocking; one student admittedthey send money home from

their campus job each week

to help pay bills. Anothershared with us that theynow avoid going home onthe weekends because both

parents recently lost their jobsand the reality of falling behindon bills and utility disconnectnotices had created a tense anddepressing atmosphere at home.

The Paper PlateCampaign is an excellent, safe,unique icebreaker to use if youare looking to start a povertyconversation on your campus.Better yet, it is extremely cheapand easy to start; all you needare paper plates! Then simplyask students how the recessionhas touched them or someonethey know.

In most cases, OASHF

will provide you with plates andcover the cost of shipping themto and from the college. Whenyou are done, all you do is sendthem back to OASHF wherethey are collected and will besent to our lawmakers inWashington DC.

If this sounds like aproject you may be interestedin, contact Lisa Hamler-Fugitt,

614-221-4336, the ExecutiveDirector of OASHF.

A lso , f o r t ho seinterested, the full documentarycan be found at MSNBC.com,under the title Friends andNeighbors.

The Great Paper Plate Campaign;A Unique Way to Start a Poverty or Food Security Dialogue on Your CampusBy Nicholas Weber

vista voice

Documents