Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009
YOU SPEAK, WE LISTEN
Radnor, Pa.
CABRINI COLLEGE
Pacemaker Winner Vol L, Issue 17
www.theloquitur.com
Local and global hunger issues interconnect janene gibbons staff writer
jmg727@cabrini.edu shannon keough copy editor
sek723@cabrini.edu
brittany mitchell/multimedia editor
Founder’s Day speakers Dr. Mariana Chilton and Abiosseh Davis converse following their talks on the global food crisis in front of students, faculty and administrators on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
jake verterano/A&E editor
Students and faculty take in the first speaker Abiosseh Davis’ speech on the global food crisis and what steps students can take to help the cause.
The link between the dignity of human beings and the impact that humanity has on legislation was the driving force behind the presentations that were given on Cabrini’s fifth annual Founder’s Day. The global food crisis was the theme of this year’s Founder’s Day, held on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Grace Hall Atrium, at which two speakers, Abiosseh Davis and Dr. Mariana Chilton, spoke on the topic both globally and domestically. “Food security is a growing problem where people may occasionally have access to food but not on a dependable level because of war, other kinds of violence, environmental factors or corruption in the government,” Mary Laver, director of international affairs, said. Interaction was a key component of the evening. Davis, project associate for the Global Women’s Project at the Center for Concern in Washington, D.C., encouraged the audience to shout out what they thought were the major contributors to the global food crisis. Among their answers were climate, disease and bad policies. Around the room there was a photo exhibit, an advocacy table set up in order for students to write letters to their senators and a spirituality center where students could show their support for Cabrini Sisters and send their prayers and encouragement to the Witnesses to Hunger. Chilton, assistant professor in the public health school at Drexel
University, brought her photo exhibit Witnesses to Hunger. Her vision was to allow mothers to document their lives and the issues that block their access to getting nutritional food for themselves and their families. Her project entailed giving cameras to 40 women in order to make their voices heard by legislators. While Chilton knows a common reaction may be pity for these people, she hopes they will feel outraged enough to be empowered and change policy. Chilton’s idea with Witnesses to Hunger was “to lift the blinds between those who have and have not.” Beth Briggs, junior psychology and sociology major and CRS food security ambassador, talked about the importance of students understanding the global and domestic connection of food security. She believes you cannot think about one without thinking about the other. Chilton emphasized that although she works locally in Philadelphia, Pa., with hunger issues, she sees Philadelphia as a part of the globe and being affected as well. Davis’ argument was that, “people should be at the center of everything you do,” instead of putting profits at the top of everything. “It’s really exciting that people [at Cabrini] are using the common good as the basis of how they envision the world,” Davis said. Founder’s Day was begun by former Cabrini President Antoinette Iadarola in 2001 when Sister Ursula Infante, founder of Cabrini, passed away at age 104. The day takes place during the week
FOUNDER’S DAY, page 3
Norristown homeless seek refuge in shelter diana trasatti copy editor
dlt722@cabrini.edu
Rows of cots are aligned strategically along the tile-covered concrete floor. A white sheet covers the thin mattresses and one or two throw blankets are neatly folded on the bottom of the makeshift beds, some with child-like stuffed animals placed upon them. A few beige walls, no doors, are the only separation
INSIDE this week’s edition
between males and females. In this bedroom, all 75 inhabitants are roommates. They all experience each person’s nightmares and they all hear each single cough and each individual snore. Besides this large bedroom, the residents of the Norristown shelter share another common bond. They are all homeless. “Don’t judge us because we’re here, just because we’re having a hard time,” Raseanya Rivera, a resident of the shelter, said.
Rivera appears like any other 23-year-old; talking proudly about her passion for art, music and writing. Going by the beaming grin on her face alone, no one would ever suspect that she is one of the residents at a homeless shelter. “These are people like us who just had rotten luck,” Genny O’Donnell, director of the Coordinated Outreach Center, said. O’Donnell became involved with the shelter in October 2006
when the Norristown hospital donated a wing to act as a shelter in response to the county’s request and the urging of the community action council. The emergency shelter’s goal is to help the residents become self-sufficient obtain an education, employment and permanent housing. Organizing activities that promote community involvement is one the programming aspects that O’Donnell holds in high importance.
“This is the bottom. It is here or the woods. We encourage people to get involved in something that will get them out,” O’Donnell said. Homelessness became a national problem in the ‘80s during the terms of President Ronald Reagan. When Reagan cut the federal deficit from $74 billion to $19 billion, the affordable hous-
HOMELESSNESS, page 3
Hunger Banquet
Philly Car Show
Page 4
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