The week of Nov 15. Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) held a Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week that was put on by the Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL).
The campus started off the week with a faces of homelessness panel. This event was put on by Rachael Straehle, a junior at SNHU. There were four members on the panel who told their stories about being homeless and the struggles they faced while being homeless. Then, there were also two members on the panel who were service workers. They spoke about the organizations that they work with to help out the homeless.
Johanna Leazott, a junior from SNHU, said, “This panel helped open the eyes of the SNHU community and made students more knowledgeable on this topic.”
Zach Ingrassi and Chris Temple from the documentary “Living on One Dollar” came to the SNHU campus to talk about how they lived in Guatemala off a dollar a day. They made many friends young and old during their experience. They lived in a small hut with a dirt floor and had a thin mat to sleep on the ground with. They only had to live like this for 56 days but the people that live in Guatemala live like this everyday. They are also making another documentary about what it is like to live in a Syrian Refugee camp.
A. Cuddy, a freshman who attended this event said, “It was really interesting to see these two guys talk about the cultural differences and how they used their minimal resources for the benefit of the Guatemalan people. It is unbelievable that just a small loan can make the biggest change in somebody’s life.”
Stop Hunger Now was an event that was sponsored by Outreach where students packed over 10,000 meals for people around the world. There were all different stations for people to work at. Some filled bags with non-perishable foods, others weighed it, and lastly groups sealed the bags shut. Upbeat music was played, laughter filled the room, and who could forget about the giant gong that participants got to hit each time 1,000 meals were packaged.
“This was such a great night filled with friends, music, and teamwork! We had fun while helping people in need,” Lauren Makchnie stated, showing just the level of dedication and support students show on the SNHU campus.