"Poverty, Love, and Money" by Jessica Jackley

Jessica Jackley's Ted Talk, "Poverty, Love, and Money" touches upon a lot of themes that surround many of us who are involved in community engagement, volunteerism, and social justice. Around the CCE, we like to downplay the use of the word "help." It is not with a mentality that we are giving to those less fortunate out of guilt, shame, or feeling more adequate, but with the mindset that we are sharing a skill or gift with our neighbors who are in turn sharing their skills and gifts with us. Rather than a one-way road, we emphasize building symbiotic partnerships with those we work and interact with. 

This mindset is relatively new. Many people, like Jessica, give money or time to help someone because it is what is expected of them. They hear stories about the poor suffering and think only to address this immediate misfortune. 

However, there are two sides to every story. I highly encourage you to watch Jessica's talk, hear about her exploration of the state of poverty, application of love, and power of money. 

If you're unsure how to tackle a social justice you find challenging, how to better understand and empathize with someone you may otherwise look down on because of their financial status, how you fit in to society as a volunteer or advocate, this video is perfect for you! 

Video link: http://bit.ly/14WXXil
Jessica's foundation: http://bit.ly/13rUfsI http://http://

July Opportunities with the CCE

With June quickly ending, the CCE is gearing up for July!

This last week of June is filled with training the camp counselors for the Puentes al Futuro (Bridges to the Future) summer camps which Eastern hosts. The camp is a 4-week long day camp for at-risk, ELL ELL (English Language Learner) youth in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. The kids attend either a math or language arts class in the morning and then participate in arts and crafts and tutoring sessions in the afternoon. All of the counselors are current Eastern students or alumni.
For information on how you can be a counselor for next year, email the Center for Community Engagement at cce@easternct.edu 

Tomorrow, the Connecticut Food Pantry's Mobile Truck is coming back to Willimantic for it's monthly stop. The truck comes filled with fresh produce, organic packaged foods and soups, and more to pass out to those who have limited to no access to healthy groceries in the area. We are currently accepting sign-ups for when it visits in July (July 23, 12:30-2:30pm).

Eastern's Community Education Garden is flourishing! Blueberry bushes, cantelope, and watermelon were all recently planted. Sugar peas, strawberries, and herbs have been harvested and donated to the Covenant Soup Kitchen. A dedicated group of students have been tending to the garden, but we can always do with more volunteers. Hours and days are flexible. Let us know if you want to get involved!

For information on these opportunities and how you can sign up as a volunteer, email the Center for Community Engagement at cce@easternct.edu 

Eastern's Community Education Garden Grows!

Over the past three months students, faculty, and community members have been growing fruits and vegetables for the local soup kitchen at Eastern’s Community Education Garden. Inside its white picket fence on High Street, one can find waist-high potato plants, a variety of heirloom tomatoes, sugar peas, pole beans, and strawberries. Carrot and corn shoots are beginning to peep up out of the soil. Beets, onions, and garlic are nearing a foot in height.

Recently interns from the Institute of Sustainable Energy planted watermelon. Jalapeno peppers were put in the soil with the help of Windham High School students. Sweet herbs from the Willimantic Farmer’s Market, stevia, and chocolate mint mark off the tea corner. A multifarious band of volunteers from the Eastern community come to help out: biology professors, athletic trainers, resident assistants,  and librarians. This week a Visitor’s Welcome sign is being installed to invite anyone who wishes to come in and have a look around.

Guest post: Bryan, '15

Find more pictures here!

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/detail.sfly?imageIndex=0&sid=0AYs2jdk5cN2Lkw&fid=fee91f8dcca5f339

Upcoming June Volunteer Opportunities

Looking for something new to do? Maybe you volunteered this past year and want to continue staying active. Below are some upcoming volunteer opportunities through the Center for Community Engagement!

• Eastern's Education Garden: We are in the middle of planting watermelon, potatoes, herbs, strawberries, and more! Much of the food will be donated to the Covenant Soup Kitchen when it is ready to be picked or harvested. The garden runs solely on Eastern student volunteer support with community members and local school kids helping out periodically. You can come and go as you please and form your own hours!

• Connecticut Food Bank's Mobile Truck: Every 4th Tuesday of the month, the Mobile Truck comes to 199 Valley Street with fresh produce and healthy food to distribute to those most in need. Volunteers help from 12:30-2:30pm with set-up and distributing the food to clients of the truck. This event is by far one of the most fun and rewarding events to be a part of!

If you're interested in getting involved in either, email Jacqui at decormierj@easternct.edu 

Food Justice Video

Watch this short film by Eastern Student Dave Wurtzel about Food Justice!

Walk for Warmth 2011

For the past 20 years, the Windham Area Interfaith Ministry (WAIM) non-profit has held the Walk for Warmth to raise money for their energy assistance program to keep families warm in the cold winter months. Walkers could participate individually or as a team. Each person participating was asked to raise a minimum of $20. Preceding the 2 mile walk around Willimantic was a beautiful interfaith service at St. Joseph's Church. RA Danny from Laurel Hall led a team of students at the walk. Additionally, RAs Leon from Burr, Angelica from Crandall, and Courtnie from Occum brought volunteers to help set up for the event, play educational games with kids to raise their awareness about poverty, and help clean up! The event as a whole raised $27,900!

Walkers on Main St.

Examples of the signs throughout the route!

Volunteers!

Members of the Laurel Hall team!

To learn more about WAIM, check out their website! http://waimct.org/

Eastern's 5th Annual Day of Giving!

This past Wednesday, November 23rd, we hosted Eastern's 5th Annual Day of Giving! The event was coordinated by People Helping People's Kate Harner and Scott Nolan alongside the CCE AmeriCorps VISTAs, Brit Cava and Kristina Scherber. This annual event is a Thanksgiving meal for those in need living in our community. On weekends starting at the end of October we held food drives at grocery stores to raise non-perishable food items and money for the food bank. This year we:

FED 456 PEOPLE!

COLLECTED 5,558 NON-PERISHABLE FOOD ITEMS!

RAISED $538.81 DOLLARS!

HAD 30 STUDENT VOLUNTEERS!

All our volunteers!

The buffet!

Co-Sponsored by Chartwells!

A family enjoying the meal!

Press Covering the Event:

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/x1059073667/VIDEO-ECSUs-5th-Annual-Day-of-Giving

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/newsnow/x2045398664/Easterns-Day-of-Giving-filled-with-food-thanks

http://www.wili-am.com/images/audio/ecsu_day_of_giving_nov_21_2011.wma

Find us in the November 25th issue of the Willimantic Chronicle & Channel 3!

Interschool Walk for Warmth: Recap!

About 390 children convened at Windham Middle School on Wednesday, October 26th to learn about poverty. The children came from afterschool programs at Windham Middle, Natchaug, Sweeney, North Windham, and Windham Center. The children were able to walk around the track in order to earn tickets to play poverty-related games. Some activities included face painting, bracelet making, paper chain, a guessing game, scavenger hunt and more. Children were also able to receive prizes for doing certain activities. The favorite station seemed to be the popcorn machine, where there was a consistent line of kids waiting to get their popcorn from our two dedicated volunteers at the station!

A total of 53 volunteers from Eastern helped out at the event! Great job volunteers. Take a look at the list of our volunteers below:

Ashley Lovett, Ian McGlynn, Kerri Schuster, Michael Downs, Kaitlin Baldi, Jessica Sammataro, Katherina Poltorak, Latiqua Patterson, Steven Clayton, Laura Bean, Keith Sunthorn, Shannon Shultz, Emily Yu, Stephanie Gionfriddo, Avery Schena, Stephanie Sakelarakis, Jean Chery, Aaron Bernstein, Clif LeSure, Federica Bucca, Yunchu Liu, Bryant Collazo, Despina Messologitis, Emily Jack, Kate Harner, Taylor Scalia, James Boyle, Angelica Hribko, Alyssiah Wiley, Lesly Damour, Rachel Murad, Tom Takacs, Alan Nunez, Stef Burelle, Ben Glick, Samantha Clifford, Bethany Ingraham, Steve Lukaszewski, Ethan Linder, Shannon McCormick, Courtney Gendron, Tasheenah Brown, Megan Sniffin, Brittany Graff, Colleen Gomola, William McLaughlin, Melissa Symolon, Wiley Dawson, Jon Yackel, Max Goto, Brit Cava, Kristina Scherber & Lauren Greeney

Special thanks to Kate Harner, James Boyle, Wiley Dawson, Melissa Symolon and Katee Baldi for their hardwork as Walk for Warmth Committee members!

Plus, Eastern Volunteers made the news again! Click here to check out the article in the Norwich Bulletin on the Interschool Walk for Warmth.

How Rich are you Really?

Are you richer than you think?

Every year we gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world, wondering what it would be like to have that sort of cash. But where would you sit on one of those lists? Here's your chance to find out!

Click the picture below.

World Hunger: How Will You Help?

Take action here: https://www.wfp.org/donate/1billion