Rider community rallies around Thanksgiving to make a difference

Each year, with Thanksgiving and the holiday season right around the corner, the Rider community strives to make a difference by providing food to those who are less fortunate while bringing students, faculty and staff together in the process.

This year, the community has coordinated their efforts in hope of making the biggest difference yet. The Office of Service Learning has joined forces with Athletics, the Office of Sustainability, Greek Life and others around the University.

“This is bigger than anything we have done before,” says Joan Liptrot, assistant director of campus and community engagement for service learning. “We are focusing on helping people come together on projects, so it’s not just little pockets here or there, but having a variety of groups working together as one community towards the mission of making our community a better place.”

This year, the annual food drive and Thanksgiving Gathering, which is a luncheon for faculty, staff and students, are encompassed within Homeless and Hunger Awareness Week. The driving force behind the week is to encourage students to participate in service events and to provide an important learning experience.

“We are trying to combine both service and learning activities to have students understand why we do these types of things and change their understanding," says Liptrot. "We try to highlight different situations people are in throughout the week and make a point that the food goes to people who are really struggling including the working poor, homeless, veterans and those with mental disabilities."

Rider's annual Thanksgiving food drive is an effort to provide food for local families; there are requests from local agencies for more than 400 meals for Thanksgiving. In response to these requests, Rider collects boxes filled with an assortment of non-perishable food items ranging from instant mashed potatoes to peanut butter.

On top of the non-perishable goods, the boxes include money to buy a turkey and pie. Since many people find themselves busy this time of year, the Office of Campus Life is accepting $50 donations that will be used to make a complete box.

Food boxes are being collected in the Bart Luedeke Center’s Cavalla Room on Wednesday, Nov. 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. Boxes that don’t have all of the required items will hopefully be completed by the donations brought to the Thanksgiving Gathering, which takes place in the Cavalla Room on Thursday, Nov. 17, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Faculty and staff must purchase a $5 ticket to enter and students are asked to bring a canned food item to enter. The luncheon will have two student speakers and a tasty Thanksgiving-themed meal for those who attend.

Last-minute box donations will be accepted at the luncheon. All of the boxes will be displayed at the luncheon to show how one box can make a difference and contribute to the community.

Homeless and Hunger Awareness week kicked off with the Nearly Naked Mile Clothing Drive, organized by Rider University Greek Counsel, which collected clothing to be donated to HomeFront. Throughout the week, other service events that are taking place include peanut-butter and jelly making, lunch bag making and a volunteer opportunity fair.

Learning events that are a part of the week-long event are aimed to raise awareness on different topics related to human struggles. The Sleep Out was designed to give students a better understanding of the conditions homeless people face as colder weather sets in. As part of its Green Film Series, the Office of Sustainability screened How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things That Climate Change Can't, a documentary about sustainability and how human lives are threatened by climate change. There will a Food Waste Luncheon in Daly's from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 18. This eye-opening event will show students how much food can be wasted and encourage them be more responsible with leftovers over Thanksgiving break.

The week will wrap up on Saturday, Nov. 19, with a Rider-sponsored meal at Loaves and Fishes, a soup kitchen held at St Mary's Cathedral in Trenton. Food will be provided by Aramark and Rider provides desserts and drinks. This event typically serves about 800 meals, and Rider students are invited to come and serve meals at the soup kitchen.

By showing students how their time and their education can be used to benefit others, Rider is giving students the framework of how to be good citizens. These events offer a unique experience for the Rider student community that is different from years before by allowing groups to collaborate efforts and create better events.