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| Photo by JESSICA TIBBETTS Students from Virginia Wesleyan and Lynchburg College form a chain to move boxes from the supply truck to the Batten Center during National Family Volunteer Day, Nov. 22. |
Homeless Americans, battered women and children, in addition to those who simply can't find work and are without a place to stay, are in especially desperate straits during this time of year. Recognizing this, Wesleyan's Office of Community Service, in partnership with Circle K, joined the members of Volunteer Hampton Roads to host National Family Volunteer Day in the CMAC Nov. 22 from 6 in the morning until 12 noon. Over 50 members of the campus community gave their Saturday to box food for residents of 14 local shelters. Refuges like F.O.R. (Families, Opportunities and Resources) Kids, Union Mission Ministries, Barrett Transitional Home, Judeo-Christian Outreach Center and the H.E.R. Shelter benefited from over 1,000 boxes of food packed by 1,000 volunteers for over 3,000 people.
Circle K boxed food that went to families in the Haven House Emergency Shelter run by F.O.R Kids in Oceanview, Norfolk. This center serves as a home for what people often call the "traditional homeless, those in a real financial bind who lost their homes due to natural disaster, and those just out of work and with a family," according to Dianne Paluzzi, assistant director of Volunteer Hampton Roads.
"It's reassuring," said Paluzzi. "These people, all 1,000 of them, came from every walk of life in the community, young and old, college and high school, really a huge cross-section of our society." They all gave up their day to help people who had less than they had. "One person really makes a difference when you think that one person packed enough food to feed one family – and multiply that by 1,000 people's efforts," she said. "There was a lot of teamwork to put this event on, and there are battered women and their kids and folks who are moving from living on the street and into new residences who are going to have a better transition because these volunteers gave of their time and talents on a cold Saturday morning to pack up someone else's first box of groceries.
"To me, that's the real holiday spirit, it's just something special," she said. The morning began at 6 with Circle K’ers being fed a pancake and sausage breakfast sponsored by the local Kiwanis Club, following a 12-hour fast called Starving to Serve the night before. They were greeted outside by eight Marines and three sailors from Navy and Marine Intelligence Command at Dam Neck who helped unload a truckful food at 6:30. The truck, which was a Marine recruiting poster on wheels, carried everything from pancake mix, canned corn, peaches and ravioli to breakfast cereal and all the typical nonperishable groceries a family would have on their first shopping list.
"I came because I wanted to help out," said Pvt. Erwin Corpuz. "I think that this kind of stuff is a lot like being a Marine to me. I get to help people who can't always help themselves, and I get to make a difference in the world." Cathy Zerba, drug counter intelligence instructor and volunteer coordinator for the unit, said she tries to get service members who want to volunteer off the base at least two Saturdays a month, doing everything from raking leaves and planting flowers for the neighborhood elderly disabled to working at food banks. "I'm glad we came today, because it gives us a chance to get off the base, meet good people and do good things," said Zerba.
The day continued as the volunteers flooded onto campus for the event. Circle K members from Lynchburg joined the Wesleyan chapter, boxing food and loading U-hauls to ship the provisions to the shelters. "I am glad we got to host National Family Volunteer Day," said Jessica Tibbetts, president of Circle K. "I think it was really good for my club to see that they aren't alone in community service. When you expect 600 and get double, it makes you feel really good – like people really care about what happens to their neighbor, especially right now. It was really a great eye-opener to see how little time it takes to help so many families that just need so much."
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| Photo courtesy of www.lonelyplanet.com Nathan Giordano will be going to Hyderabad from Dec. 4 through June 1. |
After six years, Web Coordinator Nathan Giordano came to Virginia Wesleyan College in 1994 after graduating from Kempsville High School, and has been here ever since. He began working at the college in 1997 and graduated in 1998 with a B.A. in Computer Science.
After being born and raised in the Tidewater area, he thought that Wesleyan felt “more like a ‘college’ and less like a ‘dingy high school,’ which was the impression I had of the ODU classrooms and campus.” Giordano left for India on Dec. 4 and will be returning June 1, 2004. He, his wife and his sister are staying in Hyderabad in the province of Andra Pradesh for six months.
“If you're like me and still have no idea what all that means, it's about in the ‘middle’ of the country, top to bottom,” said Giordano. He and his wife have been married for about a year and a half and actually met in Israel. She is from England and was invited to a Bible school in Israel by a mutual friend.
After visiting her in England the following Christmas, a few large phone bills and plane tickets, they were married. “Both of us are convinced God had a lot to do with the whole thing, start to finish,” said Giordano of the courtship.
There has been mission work in India for some time through Giordano's church and a friend of his “went three years ago and loved it so much that he's returned annually.” When Giordano returns from India, he hopes to return to Wesleyan. After interviewing his replacement and having a hand in his hiring, he thinks that his replacement will do a great job. “We’ve worked side-by-side through the past month,” said Giordano.
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| Photo courtesy of JAIME BERTRAM Senior Sean White fills out an anonymous survey questioning how much he smokes, when he smokes, and when he feels the need to smoke during the national Great American Smokeout. |
The MBE 301 business class sponsored the Great Wesleyan Smokeout, Nov. 20, in recognition of the national Great American Smokeout sponsored by the American Cancer Society. The event was an opportunity for the class to help promote a nonsmoking environment and give students a visual perspective on the dangers of smoking.
According to the American Cancer Society, "more people die every year from smoking-related diseases than from AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, fires, drugs, murders and suicides combined." The class hoped that the event would help people realize that it is not "cool" to be part of a statistic. They wanted students to see that not everyone smokes, and those who do smoke do not have much to look forward to.
"Smoking causes many other cancers, not just lung cancer," said Jamie Bertram, a student in the class. "Most heart attacks are a result of smoking." The business class is a requirement for Wesleyan's L.A.M.P. program for business majors. The class worked the entire semester on its project. The class for the fall 2003 semester consisted of Jamie Bertram, Nina Hlebarova, Becki Head, Brooke Laughlin, James Lee and Stacey Waterfield. With the help of Mary Cureton, a registered nurse in Wesleyan's Health Services Department, the students were able to get in touch with the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association to receive props for their event. Cureton has worked on the campaign to stop smoking for many years. Throughout her 10 years Wesleyan, she has worked to help "encourage people to quit and encourage those who are thinking of starting to think twice."
It is a popular myth at Virginia Wesleyan that the majority of students smoke. The survey conducted by the business class showed that only 19% of those 187 surveyed smoke, while 81% do not smoke. "On most college campuses usually about 70% of students don't smoke," said Cureton. "People tend to notice people who are smoking versus those who aren't." She took it upon herself to make sure the students were able to present a variety of information to allow people to understand why smoking is such a serious health risk. With her help, the class offered information not only on smoking but also chewing tobacco and the effects of secondhand smoke on a nonsmoker's lungs.
From 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., the class invited students to stop by the table to receive information on how to quit smoking, help someone else quit smoking, or avoid smoking. On the walls in the Grille, students could sign pledges to "try to lead a smoke-free life and pledge not to use tobacco products during the Great American Smokeout." Students could choose from a variety of pamphlets, buttons, stickers and other anti-smoking memorabilia. The class also showed a movie, "The Insider," in Eggleston Commons at 7 that night. The movie dealt with the tobacco industry's role in America's addiction to smoking.
Please see Smokeout, page 5
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