Daina Havens

"Let's walk!" reverberated amid the enthusiastic audience that gathered Saturday, April 14 at Elkins Oval Park in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum steps. After some free juice and snacks provided by Sodexho, the first-time leading sponsor of the event, a quick group warm-up and some pre-walk entertainment, the massive group took off on their six-mile stroll in solidarity with those who suffer from hunger in Philadelphia.

Over $2,800 later, minus all other expenses, the 2006 Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week that began on Sunday, Oct. 5 was a triumphant success. As co-chair of the campaign, it was a blessing to be part of something that positively effected so many lives, ranging from the campus community members who learned a few things about a desperate world issue, to the 30 local families that received full-course Thanksgiving meals, and even to the local and international organizations that will receive donations from the money raised.

This Christmas holiday, I will be giving gifts that give twice. The majority of the shopping that I have left will be done at a little store called Global Gifts in Wayne, PA, which is associated with hundreds of other little stores nation wide, all of which are under one big organization called Ten Thousand Villages.

I pulled up to the Rescue Mission in Atlantic City one morning to meet with a once-homeless family that I covered in an article I was writing. I, along with the housing locator at the mission, pulled up on a back-city street and parked in front of a three-bedroom apartment sandwiched between and under three other apartments in the building complex.

October is a month dedicated to some profound awareness causes. In the past, it has brought awareness to breast cancer and fair trade but, according to the recently released 2006 Philadelphia School District calendar, it has also been dubbed "Gay and Lesbian History Month.