Human Rights Awareness Week Focuses on Hunger

Human Rights Awareness Week Focuses on Hunger

Oct. 26th through the 30th the Student Government Association (SGA) is bringing the observance of Human Rights Awareness Week (HRAW) to the SNU Campus. SGA will be bringing awareness of this year’s topic, hunger, by hosting several activities and events.

SGA is partnering with the on-campus chapter of the Food Recovery Network to bring awareness to the topic of hunger not just in the world, but also locally in the Oklahoma City area. Many students may be unaware of the Food Recovery Network since the SNU chapter was just started this semester.

When speaking about the Food Recovery Network, Matthew Lawrence, SGA Executive of Campus Ministries, said, “If you do want to help, there’s an organization right here on campus where you can give your talents and abilities and help out those people dealing with hunger.”

Since 2011, the Food Recovery Network’s 150 chapters have recovered over 800,000 pounds of perishable food from being thrown away.

The Food Recovery Network SNU chapter, headed by Danielle Rouse, is currently partnering with the Jesus House. According to Rouse the Food Recovery Network chose to partner with the Jesus House because “they do not receive any government funding. Everything they have is by donation. So, we figured it would be great to give to a place who needs the most help.”

During HRAW, SGA will be sponsoring a bubble soccer tournament, a ping pong tournament, service projects and activities such as Bringing in the Harvest. Sign up for the tournaments are in the Webster Commons or you can sign up online here.

The bubble soccer tournament will be Monday, Oct. 26th, at 5 p.m. and the cost will be a donation of two cans of nonperishable food. The ping pong tournament will be Thursday, Oct. 29th, and the cost will be $5. Students are encouraged to check the SGA website for the ping pong tournament time.

The main goals of the SGA sponsored activities are not just to raise money and food, but also to raise awareness. “The whole point of it [HRAW] is to raise a conscious awareness within the student body that hunger is an issue and it’s not something that we should take for granted,” Lawrence said.

Helping to raise awareness around campus during HRAW will be posters with facts about the hunger problem in Oklahoma City. SGA hopes that the student body will be guided and led to help beyond Human Rights Awareness Week.

If you would like more information on HRAW activities, tournaments or service projects you can visit SGA’s webpage at www.snusga.com or contact Matthew Lawrence at matlawre@mail.snu.edu. For more information on the Food Recovery Network you can contact Danielle Rouse at drouse@mail.snu.edu.

[author image=”http://echo.snu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/IMG_6202.jpg”]
David Peterson, Assistant Editor
David is a self-proclaimed movie snob and social vagabond of the obscure. In his spare time he enjoys referencing books that no one has read and watching movies that no one understands. It is rumored that his beard once poured sugar into the gas tank of Chuck Norris’s car.[/author]