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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2017)
ty (foodforlanecounty.org) helps provide some of the food for the pantry, but they also accept donations in a bin on the front porch of the ECM student house next door to the pantry. Hale says he’d love to expand the pantry with the help of the UO administration. Most weeks the pantry gets a number of volunteers from the Holden Center, but Hale hopes for more. “It would be really good if they could find us some space. Right now it’s in such a small space that we can’t expand in some of the ways we want to.” Hale says he’d like students to be able to wait indoors for access to the pantry, and he may like to have a grad student help run operations. The biggest issue is limited space, especially in the refrigerators and freezers. Those interested in helping the pantry can volunteer, bring monetary donations or drop off unopened, shelf-sta- ble food donations at the ECM house, 1329 E. 19th Avenue. For more information, go to uoecm.org. — Kelly Kenoyer TRASH PICKED UP BY VOLUNTEERS OF WILLAMETTE RIVERKEEPER P HOTO COUR T E S Y RIV ERK EEPER THE ENVIRONMENT director Majeska Seese-Green at majeska@efn.org, or call 541-337-1643 for more information on how to help. Remember those who have very little — or sometimes nothing at all — and consider supporting these organiza- tions that help provide resources, refuge and care. — Mor- gan Theophil Two Eugene nonprofits that support survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence are in need of mone- tary donations and new items this holiday season. Sexual Assault Support Services (SASS) and Womenspace as- sist thousands of people, and both organizations have been operating in Eugene for decades. SASS runs a crisis line for survivors of sexual assault and people close to survivors. The group performs hospi- tal runs and brings new clothing like sweats, T-shirts and underwear to survivors who give up their clothes during sexual assault nurse examinations. A SASS staffer, or a Sassie — a term staffers at the nonprofit use — says new, gender-neutral clothing like sweats, boxers, underwear and women’s underwear are always needed at the organization, as well as new sports bras and flip-flop sandals. Items like protein bars are also needed — the nonprofit gives them to survivors when they go on hospital runs. Of- fice supplies like tissues are also needed. People can donate to SASS directly through their web- site. In the wake of the #MeToo hashtag, SASS says more people are seeking help. During the holidays both SASS and Womenspace say there is an increase in the number of survivors reaching out for services. Womenspace, a shelter and crisis support line, celebrat- ed its 40th anniversary this year. It handles around 3,000 calls for help each year. For the holidays, it is accepting a number of items like new toys, clothing and shoes that will be used for packages given to kids and their parents who are in need. In some situations, Womenspace says people who are leaving dangerous situations come to the shelter in only the clothes they are wearing and nothing else. Gift cards, new winter clothing like jackets, scarves and hats and mone- tary donations that can be used to purchase whatever items survivors may need are welcomed. Toiletry items are also needed because many times parents who access the shelter with their children will request items for their children and not for themselves. Both SASS and Womenspace accept monetary dona- tions. Find them at sass-lane.org and womenspaceinc.org. — Corinne Boyer 12 December 21, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com The stereotype of college stu- dents eating ramen isn’t just a joke — 48 percent of students in a sur- vey had experienced food insecurity in the past 30 days, according to a study by the National Student Cam- paign Against Hunger and Home- lessness. But one group is fighting to help local college students eat healthy and find stability in the struggle to fill their stomachs while paying for increased tuition. The Student Food Pantry is operated out of a small, one-car garage, but every week it manages to give 150 students enough food to last them a few days. Run by the Episcopal Campus Ministry (ECM, uoecm.org), the humble pantry is located on 19th Avenue between Onyx and Emerald, just a few blocks from the University of Oregon campus. Reverend Doug Hale runs the program. “We did an ex- pansion. We went from being open once a week to being open twice a week,” Hale says. The pantry is open from 4 to 6 pm on Wednesday and Thursday. Being open two days a week led to a 50-percent increase in students using the service and shortened the significant lines that appear on that sidewalk every week. Hale says the Student Food Pantry opened because a student at the ministry was worried about a friend who wasn’t eating enough. That led to conversations about how to help, which led to action, he says. “We try to have healthy food as much as possible — [we’re] trying to stay away from empty calories.” Students who visit the pantry get to pick one thing from a number of categories, including canned produce, canned protein sources, grains, fresh or frozen produce, frozen or refrigerated protein sources, and something from a miscel- laneous section. Hale says it adds up to about a grocery sack, or four or five days worth of food. Hale says students are an overlooked population when it comes to food insecurity. “There’s been a framing for quite a while of ‘oh you’re a college student, you live on ramen,’” he says. “The real- ity is that that’s one of the places where students can cut their expenses, is food. There’s other things that if they’re in school they can’t cut, like tuition and books.” “There’s a real concern that tuition rising really rapidly has really had an impact on what students are able to do,” Hale adds. The Student Food Pantry serves all college students in the area, though it’s closest to UO. FOOD for Lane Coun- While holiday television ads implore you to show you care by buying diamonds or gas-guz- zling SUVs, we at Eugene Weekly invite you to thumb your nose at the binge consumerism of December and support our local environmental nonprofits. Give the gift that shows you care more about our future than a truck or a trinket by showing some love to these local green groups. Bring Recycling is a cause you can support through donations or by visiting their store and shopping for used goods this holiday season. Bring offers tips for a low-waste holiday giving season on their website’s blog and has created a list of local busi- nesses it consults on reducing waste. Though Bring is known by many as a go-to source for reused building supplies, their lesser-known outreach work supports a variety of reuse and sustainability education ini- tiatives, including a newly launched construction material reuse program and educational outreach to nearly 5,000 local youth. Executive director Carolyn Stein says Bring’s work is about supporting not only a sustainable environment but also a sustainable economy that serves people in need. Stein says that, as a women-led organization, Bring culti- vates a nurturing relationship with the community. “We are only as good as our weakest link and want to show support to people who are struggling,” she says. Donations to Bring help support their educational pro- grams as well as initiatives that provide materials for proj- ects that build houses for the unhoused and provide job opportunities for people with barriers to employment. You can visit Bring’s reuse store at 4446 Franklin Bou- levard, donate and browse for sustainable gift ideas on their website bringrecycling.org, or reach them by phone at 541-746-3023. For the better part of two decades Beyond Toxics has been organizing around environmental justice issues that affect Oregon’s most vulnerable populations. Executive director Lisa Arkin points to their hiring of environmental justice organizers, along with work for farmworkers and communities affected by aerial pesticide sprays, as a few important campaigns. Because the organization is run and mostly staffed by women, Arkin says they have a better chance at connect- ing with women on the frontlines of environmental health issues. “It’s critical to relate to the tribulations of other wom- en,” Arkin says. “They are the linchpin to environmental justice education.” Women play a vital role in recognizing the harms posed by toxic chemicals to their family and teaching those around them about how to avoid or prevent pesticides from contaminating their homes, she points out.
