Weekly Spotlight | Hunger Action: Peanut Butter Jammin' to fill local need

Stephanie Damon-Moore Assisstant Life Editor

For the members of Vassar College’s Hunger Action Committee, the appeal is in the title: Action. The Committee is an egalitarian group dedicated to relieving hunger and homelessness.

Group members volunteer at The Lunchbox, Poughkeepsie’s local soup kitchen, once a week, and serve lunch at Beulah Baptist Church on a monthly basis. They also organize an event called Bright Nights during which they collect clothing and have a point drive at the All Campus Dining Center three to four times a year.

“We distribute the food and clothes to Poughkeepsie residents who are homeless,” said Hunger Action Ilyse Kramer ’08. The Peanut Butter Jam this Friday, Feb. 29, followed by the next Bright Nights this Saturday, March 1, will mark the first time that Habitat for Humanity and Operation Donation will collaborate with Hunger Action.

“This is Peanut Butter Jam’s third year, and it went really well last year,” said Rachel Glicksman ’09. The event boasts a variety of musical groups, cheese and fruit plates, and what group members described as an “art house atmosphere.” But the best part is the opportunity for Vassar students to stop by the Villard Room—any time between 7-9 p.m.—and make a sandwich to be given out at Bright Nights. “Anyone can stop by and make one sandwich to donate and one to eat,” said Kramer.

At Bright Nights the sandwiches will be given out in bag lunches, in addition to bags of socks and underwear, bags of hygiene products, and donated clothing.

In addition to the Peanut Butter Jam and Bright Nights, Hunger Action will be volunteering at Beulah Baptist Church on Saturday morning. Ezra Roth ’10 described the next week as “Hunger Action’s Everest, but is confident that the group is up to the challenge.

The constant drive for activity on and around campus entices students to join. “I really like Hunger Action because you get involved from day one,” Glicksman said. “And everyone can get involved because we’re egalitarian; there’s really no hierarchy.”

“Community service is something I grew up with,” said Kramer, “and I really wanted to continue that when I went to college...While we’re helping [those in need], there’s a lot that they can teach us.”

Hunger Action Committee isn’t just working on the local level—international hunger concerns are also a focal point. “We’ve expanded our focus beyond hunger and homelessness to healthcare, social justice,” Glicksman said. “We really think about the...issue at every level.”

“For example, we helped out with Focus the Nation—it was all about global warming, so we focused on how it affected hunger,” said Roth. “People will have to be evacuated, fields will be immersed in water, etc.”

The Hunger Action Committee is always looking for new members and is happy to have people come to Monday night meetings, serve lunches on Fridays, or volunteer at the Baptist Church on Saturdays. The Peanut Butter Jam will be a fun and easy way to lend a hand right away, and donating just a few minutes of your time will help feed the homeless.

And if you’re looking for a new way to make an old favorite, Roth has developed his own peanut butter and jelly technique: “My favorite is the peanut butter sandwich high-five, where one person has the peanut butter side and one person has the jelly side and you high-five that stuff together.”

If you’re in the mood for a philanthropic high-five, head over to the Villard room this Friday, Feb. 29.