The College of Charleston Center for Civic Engagement
will host a variety of events during the week to educate people about
hunger and homelessness. Their hope is that increased awareness of
these issues will translate into the action needed to help solve the
problems of hunger and homelessness in our society.
Learn more from the press release below:
To kick off the event, Mayor Joseph Riley will read his annual Hunger
and Homelessness Proclamation on Monday, November 16, at 4:00 p.m. This
event will be held in the Stern Center Ballroom and is open to the
public.
Following the mayor’s proclamation, students will participate in
the Missouri Community Action Poverty Simulation, sponsored by the
Center for Civic Engagement. This exercise will be split into four
20-minute segments, during which participants will take on the role of
an assigned character. Some will be disabled, some will find themselves
homeless and others will be senior citizens on Social Security. Each
20-minute block represents a week that participants will have to
survive and “make ends meet” as their character. Through the poverty
simulation, participants will actually have a chance to walk a month in
someone else’s shoes.
The poverty simulation is being offered in partnership with East Cooper Community Outreach
(ECCO), a local non-profit organization, which provides basic needs,
healthcare and emergency financial services to residents of Charleston
and Berkeley Counties.
“ECCO is actively engaged in raising awareness about poverty and its
impact on the local community,” said Gail Montgomery, ECCO’s Director
of its Out of Poverty Initiative. “We are pleased that the College of
Charleston has chosen to work with us to bring the simulation to its
student body, and hope that other schools, agencies and business
organizations will follow suit and join us in broadening the reach of
this program.”
The Center for Civic Engagement will also sponsor a Food for Thought
lunch series, a Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Fair and a showing of
the movie Pursuit of Happyness.
For more information, email Mary Pat Twomey or give her a call at (843) 953-0810.
