Winter is going to be a little warmer this year for local families.
Rutgers Against Hunger launched its first Adopt-A-Family campaign yesterday to enable the University community to offer direct help to New Jersey families struggling with hunger and poverty.
In a University-wide e-mail message, President Richard L. McCormick outlined the campaign’s goals and urged students to participate.
“Hunger and poverty continue to cause great suffering in our state, particularly for families with children and people on fixed incomes,” McCormick said. “As the holiday season approaches, their needs become more poignant, so I hope you will be part of the Adopt-A-Family Campaign and give the gifts of your service, generosity and compassion to those in need.”
The campaign allows student organizations, fraternities, sororities, administration, academic departments and alumni to adopt one or more families. The group will provide the families with nonperishable foods and other items in time for the December holiday season, McCormick said.
The University’s School of Social Work and various social service agencies across the state will assist RAH in identifying families who can benefit from assistance, he said.
RAH Coordinator Julie Sylvester said agency workers are selecting families they maintain contact with and believe would benefit the most from the campaign.
“We’re asking agencies to really think about which families are the most needy,” Sylvester said.
Groups will receive a brief profile of each family they adopt so that they may personalize their efforts, McCormick said.
RAH plans on making the program more personable by interacting with donating groups, Sylvester said.
“We will be giving them a call and talking to them about their interests and exactly where they’re located,” she said. “In a couple of weeks, we will be calling them back and placing them with a family.”
Families will be assigned to participants after Oct. 16, McCormick said.
RAH will match groups with families that fit their size, Sylvester said.
“When you call us up and say you’re a group of only three people, we can look at our database and try to match you up with a small family,” she said.
Sylvester said groups would be provided with the ages of family members.
“We have to allow the families to remain anonymous, but we can at least tell groups that they are donating to a single mother with kids ages 2 and 7,” she said.
The group will then purchase non-perishable foods, toiletries, baby supplies, toys and clothing of their choosing for the family, Sylvester said.
“Groups will be able to think about what other gifts might be really useful for the rest of the year,” she said. “We’re not talking about Nintendo Wiis, but really more of the basic staples everybody needs: hats, clothes and maybe a doll.”
The Adopt-A-Family Toolkit pamphlet lists items deemed acceptable, ranging from toothpaste to canned salmon to jump ropes. Toys and clothing items should cost less than $15, according to the pamphlet.
Rutgers University Facilities and Capital Planning will collect the donations the week of Dec. 7, prior to the end of classes, McCormick said.
Sylvester said if the program is successful, RAH would look for ways to improve the program and increase the amount of families. The number for this year’s program may exceed 100 families.
School of Arts and Sciences sophomore Dylan Cecchini said knowing donations would be going to a particular family is motivating.
“I definitely feel that in targeting a specific family, you would feel a deeper connection to real people, rather than being under the umbrella of some huge corporation,” Cecchini said. “It sounds like a good idea.”
History Teaching Assistant Elisabeth Eittreim said the program offered donors a concrete sense of where donations are going.
“I’ve done work with various nonprofit groups, and I’ve found that anytime you connect a human face to something, people are more willing to participate,” Eittreim said.
Sign-up forms and information about the Adopt-A-Family campaign can be found at www.rah.rutgers.edu.
Program to aid local families fighting poverty
Published: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
1 comments
I am someone both of poverty, and who fights for the homeless and poor in my state of Maine. Saving a rent, is a good thing. Its also better that everyone can aford to pay their rent so no one need save it. See www.Hospitalityhouseofmaine.org. End 100% of homelessness.