UNV 1010 Class Experience

My class experience in UNV 1010 was excellent. I really enjoyed the service work and the blog exercises. My favorite thing had to be the Discovery thing because it showed me a lot and helped me a lot.

Service Reflection

After spending the last two weeks collecting things to donate, I have learned how much joy can come from giving. For example, I told my dad about it and he got so jazzed up about finding clothes to donate. He cleaned out his closets and went through old stuff and could not WAIT for me to take it in! It was such a wonderful bonding experience for us. That is only example of how wonderful giving can be. I think many times the giver receives as much, or more, than the receiver.

Hunger And Homelessness Reserach Experience

It was really interesting for me to research "hunger and homelessness". The way I did my research was to look for articles concerning this topic and the information I found was astonishing. I enjoyed researching this topic because it was very eye opening.

Hunger And Homelessness Research Outline

HUNGER AND HOMELESSNESS

I. Introduction - Topic Sentence: Although America is considered a "wealthy country", it has more hunger and homelessness than it's citizens would guess.

II. Statistics

1. >49 million Americans, 1 in 7, short on food. (Abbott, par. 1).
2. Highest total of hungry in 14 years. (Abbott, par. 1).
3. 14.6% households had difficulty getting food. (Abbott, par. 4.).
4. 26% jump in demand for hunger assistance, largest increase since 1991. (Pierog, par. 1).
5. 3/4 of the 27 cities polled reported increase of homeless. (Pierog, par. 5).
6. 18% increase from 07-08 demand for food assistance (Cawthorne, par. 2).
7. increase of number of working parents getting stamps for the first time, including 2 parent families. (Cawthorne, par. 2).
8. Cities are having decrease in supplies at food pantries and emergency kitchens, may cause scale back of assistance to people. (Cawthorne, par. 2).
9. 1 in 4 children on food stamps, 1 in 8 Americans. (Bloch, 1).
10. 36 million Americans on food stamps. (Bloch, 1).
11. 20,000 people/day on food stamps. (Bloch, 1).
12. 239 Counties in US, at least 1/4 of population on food stamps. (Bloch, 1).
13. 12% Americans receive aid: 28% black, 15% Latinos, 8%white. (Bloch, 2).
14. Average of $130/month/ person on assistance. (Bloch, 2).
15. 1/2 of Americans receive food stamps by the time they are 20. (Bloch, 3).

III. Government Aid

1. Funding to help combat hunger & homelessness from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. (Pierog, par. 8).
2. Center for American Progress proposes a temporary increase in food stamps. (Cawthorne, par. 5).
3. Mr.Rector of the Heritage Foundation says, "The food stamp program is a fossil that repeats all errors of war on poverty." (Bloch, 2).

IV. Student Aid

1. National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
2. Educate public and future decision makers. ("National", par. 1).
3. Dismantle stereotypes and misinformation. ("National", par. 2).
4. Volunteer and donation. ("National", par. 2).
5. More than 500 campuses participate. ("National", par. 3).

V. Conclusion: "The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me." Matthew 26:11

WORKS CITED:

Abbott, Charles and Christopher Doering. "One in Seven Americans Short of Food." TPM. 16 Nov 2009. 01 Dec 2009. < http://www.talkingpostsmemo.com/news/2009/11/one_in_seven_americans_short_of_food.php?ref=fpa >.

Bloch, Matthew, Jason DeParle, Matthew Ericson, and Robert Gebeloff. "Food Stamp Use Soars, and Stigma Fades." The New York Times. 13 Dec 2009. 28 Nov 2009. < http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/29/us/29foodstamps.html >.

Cawthorne, Alexandra. "Homelessness And Hunger On the Rise." Center for American Progress. 13 Dec 2009. 16 Dec 2008. < http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/12/mayors_report.html >.

"National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week." National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness. 30 Nov 2009. < http://www.studentsagainsthunger.org/awareness-week >.

Pierog, Karen. "Hunger, Family Homelessness on Rise in US Cities." REUTERS. 08 Dec 2009. 10 Dec 2009. <>.

Ulifeline & Alcohol Screening

The websites, http://ulifeline.org/ & http://alcoholscreening.org/ are websites that were presented to us in class tonight. Although I think these sites present facts that are informational I think the sites will only help a select few. The people who really need to take an alcohol screening or to get help with things like cutting or suicide are probably not going to turn to people for help. And the people who advise their friends to get help may not be considered friends for long. It is still good to have resources like this but sadly we need to find a better way to truly help the large majority of individuals suffering from these problems.

Pre-Flection - Food & clothing collection

For the rest of my service hours, I am going to collect food & clothing to donate to Canticle Cafe. Going there for the first half of my service hours inspired me to do as much as I can to help the cause. Every donation will effect someones life in an immense way. I do not have the supplies or money to donate a lot personally but I have decided to reach out to my neighbors and family to take whatever they have to give as well. I have learned through this semester that with service work, although one person CAN make a difference, is best done through community. A lot of my neighbors and family are in the same boat as me and cannot donate a lot; however, together our donations will make a huge difference.

Reflection Blog - CAnticle Cafe

On Thursday October 22, 2009 I went to Canticle Cafe. This week all that they needed was our donation so we simply dropped coffee and warm clothes off to them. While we were there we got a tour and saw the facility as well as meeting the people who make it happen. Yes it did fulfill my expectations. Yes to see how much is needed and how little is available I realized how big of a problem hunger and homelessness is even in Michigan. Not really. I walked away from the experience learning that the service work doesn't actually leave until 9, unlike as I thought it left at 830 so I was there at 8. I was also awakened to the need that is out there in our community.