This post is about a community initiative I am involved with that does not concern headaches. However, so many of my patients are teenagers, turning into young adults, and their struggles are of great interest to me. I hope you find it interesting.
Turning a desire for community service into action is not the easiest thing to do. You have to identify who or what would benefit, what the needs are, and how to get organized and make it happen. Community service is often a stated goal of many organizations and faith communities. But how do you decide where to put your talents and treasure in service to others? As a member of my church’s long range planning committee, I was about to find out.
One of the goals of this church year at First Parish UU in Framingham, MA, was to increase community involvement to help end the epidemic of loneliness. After engaging in community building among ourselves, it was time to think of our local city community as well. We are located very close, ‘across the street’, from Framingham State University. We were aware of the food pantry to reduce food insecurity and did a few food drives for it. It was time for something more.
I reached out to the Coordinator of Student Support and Advocacy, at FSU, who spearheaded the many initiatives to ease the burden of food and general financial insecurity in the student population. I had some ideas for how to help but wanted to know what the she and the students saw as a need.
I learned that approximately 50% of FSU students are first generation college students in their families. Many of these are BIPOC and Pell-grant eligible, financially insecure. FSU maintains a food pantry, and gets donations of frozen meals and non-perishables from local groups. There are a number of students who are fully supported with education and housing/board on campus year-round, as well as other students who stay on campus during the summer to work, all face financial and food insecurity. During the school year, these students have access to meals through cafeteria services. Unfortunately, during the summer break, food services are unavailable and students have a difficult time finding healthy food choices.
The Coordinator had a specific request: to provide fresh produce- fruits and vegetables- for these students during the summer months, between mid-May and Labor Day. This request fulfilled several needs: provided healthy choices for students who had food insecurity, provided an opportunity to be of service to our community, and provided the chance for parishioners to become more connected with each other. Win-Win-Win!
Now I had to figure out how to pull it off.
Once the community outreach plan got church board approval, I started to talk with people, in person one-on-one and in the church newsletter. I hoped that we could team up with another 1-2 other churches to carry it off. We got a commitment from one local church for 1 week/month, from another with financial support, and even from some youth from another town.
It was important that the initiative be accessible to anyone within the church community who wanted to help. Fortunately, the logistics of delivering the food was very easy for anyone with a car (and most folks had a car). Program cost was another potential barrier. It was going to cost about $200/week for the produce, which was a substantial, even insurmountable amount. Through our church’s traditional auction this spring, as a special fundraiser, we were able to raise enough money to cover the cost for whoever needed reimbursement, and probably have left over for next year.
Now I needed to get volunteers. We set up an online sign up and sent it out to the parishioners in early April. With 2 weeks, all the spots were filled. I set it up for people to choose either buying the produce or delivery or both, looking at making it accessible to working people. Most people chose both options for their week but some did not, and will be sharing their week with another volunteer.
I continue to work on the process, the grocery list weekly, making sure the students get what they like. There has been lots of positive feedback from students and volunteers. I have heard from many in my congregation that they were just itching to do more service work. There is an excitement about the project, building our own sense of community. When asked why they belong to FPF, they can now say that this church community helps feed the students at FSU over the summer. How great is that!
Lessons Learned: This initiative and the process involved checked several boxes for everyone.
1. It meets the needs of the students, giving them just what they asked for. So often groups offer to help on their own terms, rather than what is really needed.
2. It provided healthy food choices, exposing the students to good nutrition, and encouraging the lifelong health benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables.
3. It helps members of our faith community embody our values of ‘Service is our Prayer’, feel more connected to each other and our neighbors. It also allowed for everyone to be included. If they wanted to participate they could, no barriers.
For me, I learned that when you have a good idea that meets the needs of many groups, the effort is well worth it and not nearly as daunting as you would think.
