While many families are preparing for their Thanksgiving celebrations during the month of November, the Penn State Berks Office of Campus Life will be working with Berks Cares and Yoga and Meditation Society student organizations to host awareness events related to hunger and homelessness. Together, they will recruit other student organizations to participate in the collection of non-perishable items and donations to benefit the newly created Nittany Corner–the Penn State Berks food panty, as well as the Berks County Food Bank and Opportunity House.
The kick-off event, dubbed “Camp Out of Hunger,” will be held on Friday, Nov. 3. Throughout the day, students will be stationed around campus to raise awareness of the statistics relating to hunger and homelessness. Then at 3 p.m., there will be a panel discussion of local resource providers in the Multipurpose Room, Perkins Student Center. Panelists will share the experiences of individuals experiencing homelessness, and what the local community is doing to support and empower these individuals.
At 6 p.m., Berks Cares will host its first "Live a Day" program in the Multipurpose Room. During the program, students will participate in a realistic decision-making activity based on randomly assigned income levels. Participants will be given prompts to help them better understand and experience a day in the life of someone else.
For additional information, contact Autumn Fritz, assistant director of community development at 610-396-6098 or via email at [email protected].
