For the last several years in November, students and faculty at Salt Lake Community College have sponsored Hunger and Homelessness Week to bring awareness of these issues to the Salt Lake community.
The week-long event was kicked off Monday by the Battle of the Bands contest, which was held in the Student Events Center. With a guitar pick in their fingers and an axe strapped across their chests, six bands duked it out, all in the name of battling hunger and homelessness. Students’ admission to the event was a can of non-perishable food.
Students are encouraged to bring in cans of food to the Student Center located at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus this Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Members of “The Globe” will be there to take your donations.
For every donation you make this Thursday, you will be entered into a drawing to win prizes like ski passes to the Canyons, gift certificates to the Pie Pizzeria restaurant and University of Utah basketball tickets.
For students at South City Campus, keep a lookout for shopping carts that are in dire need of being filled with clothing donations.
“The carts are a stark reminder of folks that are borrowing a shopping cart to push their belongings around in it,” said Curtis Larsen, director of Student Life and Leadership.
The carts will also contain detailed information written on cardboard about Utah’s poor.
According to the Utah Division of Housing and Community Development, 11,883 school-aged children are currently considered homeless in Utah, which accounts for 1 in 50 students. This is the highest concentration of homeless school children observed in the past five years.
Students are also encouraged to attend the Oxfam Banquet being held this Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. in the Student Event Center on the Taylorsville Redwood Campus.
The banquet will be presented by Student Life and Leadership in association with Oxfam America, whose efforts in world poverty and hunger are internationally known. The banquet invites students and the community to put themselves in the shoes of people who are less fortunate.
“This is an opportunity to see how the world eats,” Larsen said. “When people arrive they get a card that has a short bio about who they are going to be for the evening.”
For example, some who attend the banquet will receive a full meal, while others may receive as little food as some rice and water.
Larsen went on to say that the banquet will provide a good understanding of just how inadequate some meals are in poverty-stricken countries.
Admission to the banquet is one can of food. All food donations will be given to the Utah Food Bank. To contribute to the cause look for donation containers on campus.
