Re: Food Drives and Ribbons

Re. gxo's query from yet another tongue biter:

I have worked in the community for 15 years and now manage a "service
learning" program.  I attended my first NSEE conference in the fall and was
surprised by the benign expectations for most of the work being discussed
there. A charitable model of service dominated the conference. Further, I
sensed a resistance among many to challenging the economic/social status
quo.  Eventually, I found a small group of people from whom I learned of
others working toward social change.  

Re. how to move from service to action, I suggest that you consider
participatory action research, which departs from other research methods
because it is community driven and assumes that non-academic citizens have
important contributions to make in research. Participatory action research
responds to a community request for capacity-building research that the
requesting organization may not have the time, bodies or expertise to
undertake.  Thus, it gets universities out of the business of injecting
their unexperienced students into organizations for brief periods of time
which is often more work than yield for the host organization.  It gives
students real problems to solve and involves faculty directly.  
 
Nancy Stutts


At 09:23 AM 03/15/2000 EST, WLavine@aol.com wrote:
>I was interested to see the response about the two topics, and felt
compelled 
>to point out a few things:
>
>1) I am on the receiving end of the Service Learning movement.  I am the 
>person that your students contact when given the assignment to "get 
>involved 
>with the community".  It is my job to fulfill the mission of my agency and
my 
>clients while providing a meaningful experience for a student who may have 
>4 
>weeks of time to give.  There is a lot to be said for that, mostly that
there 
>is not a great deal of communications between the teachers of experiential 
>learning and the places that the students go to experience, but that is 
>another whole topic. 
>
> At least in my area, there is not a lot of dialogue between the teachers
and 
>the agencies - so we are faced with a glut of students wanting to do 
>'meaningful' work, without a lot of attention to how they fit into our 
>culture.  We work hard to accomodate them, but at times I feel like we are 
>providing more of a sitting service for students than a resource for 
>making 
>social change.  Most students want to plow into in-depth fields (Hospice 
>work, AIDS care, mentoring with children) without much prep work, and with 
>out a great deal of time management or follow-through.  Oftentimes the 
>meaningful work is so segmented from the organization that students have 
>no 
>sense of a 'big picture'.  It is unlrealistc for a student to no learn 
>about 
>the 'scut' work, cause when they go out there, it will be waiting.  We 
>don't 
>just see the students as free labor, but more often than not they are 
>taxing 
>already strained resources.
>
>2)  I work at an AIDS service organization and have since 1991.  I rarely 
>wear red ribbons any more, although I make certain they are available 
>throughout my office.  I understand the feelings about ribbons not being 
>enough, but I also see them as a foot in the door sometimes.  If a group 
>of 
>my teenagers coordinate a  "Red Ribbon Day" at school, or a  congregation 
>designates a "Red Ribbon Sunday," then I am very happy.  Because I know 
>that 
>there may not be total enlightenment for the group, it may reach one more 
>person.   For people on the outside, they need to be able to find an 
>opening 
>to get into the work of the cause, and a simple gesture like the ribbon is 
>sometimes the door.  Anything that gives a person to make a stand and 
>avoid 
>apathy is a good start.
>
>3) I agree that food drives are often Band-Aids.  But, working with people 
>who are hungry, they are a godsend.  I would love to teach how to fish, 
>but 
>before we go out in the boat, we need to have a meal.  If a client's basic 
>human needs are not being met, it does not matter how well intentioned the 
>student or social worker is, they are not going to be able to make 
>sweeping 
>changes against the system. One step at a time.
>
>I make my students coordinate the whole food drive, contracting with a 
>grocery store, hauling the food, distributing it.....it is work, and it is 
>greatly needed.  There is a lot of bureacracy, much like the world of 
>academics.  Once again, looking at the big picture.... 
>
>Of course, it is great when the nutrition majors want to provide 
>counseling 
>to our clients, but if there is not food in their pantries, then talking 
>about the food pyramid is providing more service for the students than the 
>clients -- why not combine the efforts to take advantage of the "guilt" 
>that 
>motivates people to buy a can of Spam, AND try and teach sustainable
skills?  
>
>I think it is dangerous to simply say that we are not addressing the 
>system 
>that undoubtedly needs to change by wearing a ribbon or collecting canned 
>food.  Every step towards providing opportunities to learn how to fish, or 
>prevent AIDS or fill a belly is a step in the right direction.  
>
>Many students are so far removed (and dare I say some teachers) from the 
>issues they are assigned to address -- the ripple of change must start 
>somewhere, and even the smallest gesture is one in the right direction.
>
>And there are my few cents.
>
>Sincerely, 
>
>Wendy Lavine
>Director, Volunteer Services
>Triad Health Project
>Greensboro, NC
>
>
>