This past weekend, there was a group of Lesley students that took part in Project Bread’s Walk for Hunger. This group was put together by four LU student organizations. Lesley Delivers, Strides, Students for Social Justice, and Local Acts of Fun. The Walk for Hunger is a 20 mile walk around the Boston area starting at Boston Commons. This year, the walk “raised $3.6 million to provide food for 448 emergency food programs in 130 Massachusetts cities and towns”*. I am proud to say that Lesley University students contributed to that. I am also very proud of the leaders of this trip who worked so hard to make this happen. They didn’t have much time to fundraise or pull a lot of people for sign ins, and yet they managed to get 20 people to walk and $285 raised. I can see the passion in them for this issue and they do their best every day to make a difference – and they are.
During the walk, we say many signs, and many people who inspired us. There was one woman who had done over 20 of these walks and wore it proudly on her shirt. There were people holding signs by the Charles River reminding the walkers that people weren’t just hungry during that day, they were hungry everyday – and that what we were doing was only a portion of what we could be to help. As I walked through the lunch area, I heard people talking to each other about what they do to combat hunger on a daily basis. And to me, that is what this walk was for. To remind people that there are ways to help, there are things to be done to end hunger. To end homelessness. That’s why I am so happy that Lesley Delivers exists on campus, for people who were inspired by the walk or by a family in Harvard Square holding a sign saying they are hungry.
Even though more than a few of us came away with aches and sunburns, it was all worth it. Because none of those pains even compare to what we were walking for. If I opened the eyes of one person while doing this, all of it is worth it.
I’m going to leave you with words from the sign that caught my attention and will stay with me for a long time. Because it was made by a stranger, to inspire other strangers. “You’re going to make it after all.”
* For more information about Project Bread’s Walk for Hunger go to their website:
www.projectbread.org
About Me
- Lesley Delivers
- Lesley Delivers is an organization dedicated to supporting the homeless and hungry individuals around Lesley University and in the broader community of Cambridge, MA. The mission of Lesley Delivers is to help others in our own neighborhood by contributing food, resources, or time to the surrounding areas of our University. Our goals include, but are not limited to: build good-will in the community, create a chance for teams/groups/individuals who volunteer to bond through service, create awareness about local hunger, run educational programs for the Lesley University community. This organization was started by Jill Schreider who graduated Lesley in 2009. The current presidents are Meryl Friets and Theresa Powers.
1 comment:
Wonderful article. I hope it inspires others to take action and/or join us next year. All of the clubs that got together to organize this, you are all heros in my eyes and you should be proud of all the hard you haev done, limited time to plan or not, you still did it and with full force and for that you are amazing!!
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