ASHLAND – About 50 Ashland University students chose to view Martin Luther King Jr. Day not as a day off but as a day on.
The students spent the afternoon learning about food insecurity and then volunteering through the student organization AU G.I.V.S. (Ashland University Gets Involved with Volunteer Service), packing and delivering 75 boxes of food for local senior citizens.
Ashland University Director of Orientation and Community Service Jen Washock said she and the student leaders of AU G.I.V.S. thought asking students to spend the day promoting equality and serving neighbors in need would be a good way to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. They hope to make the service day an annual event.
Sophomore Jaret Baker, who organized the event, said the goal of the service project was to provide a backup food supply senior citizens who normally receive food through Meals on Wheels. In case of inclement weather that prevents the daily meal service, seniors will be able to dip into the food boxes, which are stocked with mostly non-perishable items.
Each box also contains with a hand-written note, something students hope will brighten recipients’ days. Box recipients were chosen by Ashland County Council on Aging, which regularly provide home-delivered meals for seniors.
In addition to the service project, the MLK Day of Service event included a food inequality simulation called an Oxfam Hunger Banquet as well as a presentation from Captain Annalise Francis of The Salvation Army Kroc Center.
For the simulation, students were given a ticket assigning them a fictional income level. The approximately 20 percent of students in the high income bracket at linen-covered tables, where they were served spaghetti and meatballs. The 30 percent of students in the middle income category sat at plain tables and ate individual bowls of rice and beans. The remaining students– 50 percent– sat on the floor and had only a communal bowl rice to eat.
A few of the participants were able to move up from low to middle income, while others dropped from middle to low income. Most stayed in the same category throughout the exercise.
“It seemed like a lot of people were really moved,” Baker said.
While the Oxfam simulation was based on global poverty numbers, Francis told the students how common food insecurity is in their own community.
About 23 percent of Ashland County residents experience food insecurity, she said.
Francis educated the students about various agencies and programs available in Ashland to assist people who lack regular access to nutritious food. For example, the Kroc Center offers hot meals as well as a food pantry.
Francis said she thinks community educational and volunteer opportunities like the AU G.I.V.S. event are valuable because they open people’s eyes to the experiences of others.
“There are certainly opportunities to volunteer at the different food access programs we have, and organizing food drives is very helpful,” she said. “We also need people who are willing to come together and have conversations about how we can look to some of the bigger obstacles and the sources of the problems.”
“It really takes different agencies and civic-minded people linking arms to think through and work towards helping people go from hunger to healing, together,” she said.
Associated Charities and The Salvation Army Kroc Center provided all the food for the boxes.
Additional sponsors of the community service day included Dominos, Snyder’s-Lance/Campbells, U of Promo and Ashtonne. Each of the sponsors provided in-kind donations to help AU G.I.V.S. pull off the event.
