Food and Clothing Drive

A few of us have been throwing around the idea of a food and clothing drive for the homeless. There are lots of ideas going around ranging from thinking small, doable and short term to big, ambitious and long term.

I think it's important for those of us who want to be involved to clearly define the goals and objectives of whatever project comes out of this...for me, I honestly don't know where I'll be in the next school year and I'm going to be in India this summer, so from my perspective, for now, I would lean towards a less involved food/clothing drive (ie not thinking of getting sponsors, creating some sort of schoolwide competition etc).

If you guys agree, I think it would be best to send out an email next week or so announcing the food and clothing drive. We should come up with a list of canned foods that will be the most palatable/nutritious (so we don't just end up with a lot of unwanted canned goods and perpetuate the unfortunateness of homelessness)...

What do you guys think of this? We can think big, but let's take some baby steps in that direction in the near future.

Canned goods that I think are good: tuna in water (even those bumblebee tuna salad meals in the canned section), canned chicken, corn, garbanzo beans, kidney beans......that's all I can come up with at the moment. And for clothing, kids' clothing and shoes, and clothing that is in good condition for ppl to wear to work/job interviews.

Any more ideas?

Getting the ball rolling...

I think the first thing we have to do is to pick an issue that we are absolutely convinced is an important issue in the world. Once we establish that, then we know we'll be dedicated to it and not let it fall by the wayside. It could be local or global. Obviously local has some advantages. Then I think we need to do some research on what's been done (e.g., Lawrence has mad homeless info :D). To develop a new platform on the issue we need to know what's worked and what hasn't. The following should look familiar--it's mostly stuff we learned in 565:

Some local issues: homelessness (& mental health & drug abuse), lives lost on Mex/CA border, reproductive health care, kids susceptible to gangs/gang violence, obesity/diabetes, health disparities, lack of health coverage, infectious diseases (eg, among prisoners)

Global issues: water scarcity, information technology (eg cell phones and internet for rural areas), educating women and children, migrant workers

These are just a few, I'm sure we can come up with more. It depends on where the passion lies. I am very interested in the number of deaths incurred along the Mexico/CA border. I read an account that said in one month (last August, I think) about 40 people died. That's shocking to me. Something's not right. Of course, in a place like the US, these issues are already getting way too much publicity, so much that the real issue itself has been totally obscured. That's something to contend with.

What do you guys think? Just wanted to put something out there, however random, to bounce off of...