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.