Haven from Hunger

 

 
About Haven from Hunger
Haven from Hunger  

 


Haven from Hunger is a community development and service learning project based at Eastern Oregon University. It was established in 2002 through formal and informal networks of EOU faculty, whose members were engaged in various initiatives to increase donations to local food banks.

Project goals

  1. Increase household food security and alleviate hunger (estimates based on available information suggest that up to 15% of the local population may be experiencing hunger or food insecurity);
  2. Build social capital (strengthen community food networks and campus/community collaboration on hunger-related and food-producing activities);
  3. Build a student-run organization, supervised by faculty, to coordinate and manage the project;
  4. Create course curricula and web-based case study materials that will facilitate student and faculty participation in the project across disciplines.

Our objectives

We hope to accomplish these goals, to create a Haven from Hunger, in a variety of ways:

  1. Work with local providers of food assistance, to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of local food and non-food drive efforts, and increase donations to local food banks;
  2. Work with local producers and property owners interested in helping to develop community garden and gleaning projects;
  3. Raise public awareness of the problem of hunger locally, and its corrosive effects on our region. We will work to eliminate the stigma of need and replace it with a sense of collective responsibility to create a local Haven from Hunger.
  4. Conduct student-driven research that illuminates the problem of hunger in our region and identifies specific areas where service learning initiatives are likely to bear fruit.

Haven from Hunger runs a series of initiatives designed to address the above goals. Avenues of participation include class-based assignments (e.g., see Soc 315 and Soc 420), work study or cornerstone opportunities, practicum experience for upper division students (e.g., see Soc 409), and volunteer work.

Classes during the 2005-06 academic year where students may have the opportunity to work on the project include:

Haven from Hunger tries whenever possible to partner with local organizations or individuals who are already working on these problems within the community. We have partnered on several projects with Community Connection of Union County, and with the Neighbor-to-Neighbor Food Bank.

Project priorities

  • Create a process for soliciting broad-based participation among community partners, local farmers and gardeners, faculty (including Oregon State University agriculture and OHSU nursing programs), students, administration and people affected by food insecurity;
  • Collect information on local hunger to help better identify project priorities;
  • Develop projects driven by local input and perceived need of participating parties;
  • Develop the curricular means to connect service learning opportunities with developing and ongoing projects, working with the Center for Teaching, Learning and Assessment that EOU is developing;
  • Create a website that will help inform site users, orient project participants, coordinate activities of participants, offer learning materials and problem-based exercises, and recruit new students to the project and university to enhance the continuity of the project;
  • Use the development of the organization itself as a service learning project.

As we build both the community outreach and curricular components of the project, we hope to integrate our work with other initiatives on campus that share common interests or goals. The President's Blueprint for Excellence proposals lists descriptions and proposals representing a wide variety of groups on campus, including Haven from Hunger.

Students from all disciplines and backgrounds are encouraged to participate in HfH.