Homelessness
Hunger and Homelessness Week: Sleep Out in North Plaza
|North Plaza became a camp out site Wednesday night for NOVA and GMU students. They spent the night on flattened cardboard boxes, huddled in their sleeping bags, under makeshift cardboard huts held together with duct tape.
“The purpose was to raise awareness for the homeless and hunger victims,” said Mikael Manneklint, an international student from Sweden.
The sleepover was just one of many other events that were part of Hunger and Homelessness Action Week, sponsored by GMU Campus Ministry Association.
Fairfax community works to fight homelessness, hunger
|Senior Yara Mowafy first thought of the idea of donating unused meal plans to homeless students while working on a project for a communication class.
Two years later, donating meal plans is out of the question, but Mowafy has managed, along with senior Jordan Bivings, to set up a Meal Plan Assistance Fund for homeless students. The fund is located in the Office of Advancement and Alumni Affairs.
Students in need of emergency meal assistance are either referred to the Office of Case Management and Student Support or can self-identify to this office.
Students petition for school to donate unused meal plans
|A program is in the works that will allow George Mason University students to redistribute a percentage of their unused meal plans to homeless students on campus.
The program, called Patriot 2 Patriot, proposes that unused money from pre-paid meal plans be redistributed into a university fund. Only students who prove financial need in compliance with the Financial Aid Office policy will be able to utilize the funds.
Mason community aims to raise homelessness awareness
|In an effort to close the gap between classroom and community, members of the Faces of Homelessness Speaker’s Bureau came to George Mason University to talk about their personal experiences with homelessness.
Lauren Cattaneo, Ph.D, who teaches Community Engagement for Social Change at Mason, said inviting the speakers to her Nov. 6 class helped her students better understand poverty as a social issue.
Hunger and Homelessness Action Week kicks off
|
Hunger and Homelessness Action Week kicked off yesterday with a brown bag meal packing event. Throughout the rest of the week, the Mason community will be able to participate in events that highlight what it means to be homeless. (George Yanez)