Giving Thanks - Part I

As most college students are heading home for Thanksgiving break, a group at Wheaton College (Mass.) completed one assignment just before leaving--they organized a fund-raising drive for Norton's neediest.
Students in the Anthropology 210 class, "Feast or Famine: The Ecology and Politics of Food," collected over $700 in one week to cover the costs of Thanksgiving food baskets for the Cupboard of Kindness, a Norton, Mass. food pantry.
During a class visit, Valerie Goddard, director of the pantry, talked to the students about those in the community who receive assistance from the pantry and explained cash and food donations had decreased substantially due to the economic downturn. This year, there were no funds left to supply Thanksgiving dinners to local residents.
So the students took action. With help from departmental staff ranging from the Provost's office to the Office of Service, Spirituality and Social Responsibility, envelopes for cash contributions were placed around campus. Students also sought donations by soliciting at residence halls and campus events. Aramark employees at Wheaton also got involved by collecting more than 100 non-perishable food items at the college's annual faculty/staff Thanksgiving luncheon.
Students enrolled in "Feast or Famine" are required to participate in a number of service-learning projects throughout the semester including volunteering and running food drives for the pantry, (as pictured above left) as part of the course's service learning component, explained Donna O. Kerner, a professor of anthropology.
The recipients of this course requirement are thankful for their efforts, no doubt. The college is a major supporter of the pantry.