Thanksgiving Season Marks Time to Celebrate, Give Back
Looking for ways to give back during this season of Thanksgiving? Rider has a cornucopia of activities and outreach projects planned for the month of November. Events include Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, Rider’s annual Thanksgiving luncheon and the Feed the Hungry outreach project.
Hunger and Homelessness Awareness (HAHA) Week
Monday, November 17 to Friday, November 21
Come experience the realities of homelessness and hunger in our society and learn how combat the issues! The entire Rider community is invited to participate in the events planned for both the Lawrenceville and Westminster Choir College campuses.
Want to know how much food is wasted in an hour? The week kicks off with a Food Weigh-In from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday in Daly’s Dining Hall. Volunteers will collect and weigh food waste in Daly’s before revealing to the campus how many pounds of food were collected. The Student Entertainment Council will present The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith, at 7 p.m. in the BLC Theater. Later Monday night, students planning to go to Pub Night are asked to bring a nonperishable food or household item donation to enter. All items will be donated to a local nonprofit.
Show off your best PB&J-making skills and help make sandwiches to give out to the homeless in New York City as part of Midnight Run, an outreach project held the first Wednesday of every month. Make-a-Sandwich to benefit Midnight Run will be held from 11 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, November 18, in Talbott Library Foyer on the Westminster Choir College campus, and from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 19, in academic buildings on the Lawrenceville campus.
Make a Mercer County family’s Thanksgiving a little brighter by donating a Thanksgiving basket, filled with the holiday’s favorites. The Thanksgiving Basket Collection Drop-off will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday in BLC Cavalla Room. This year’s goal is to collect more than 300 baskets. A complete basket is made up of a small laundry basket, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing, rice, canned vegetables, sweet potatoes, spaghetti sauce, pasta products, $20 (for turkey and pie), peanut butter, jelly baked beans, tuna, crackers, fruit and juice. A Hunger Banquet will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the Dinning Commons on the Westminster Choir College campus.
On Thursday night, a vigil will be held at 7 p.m. on the Moore Library steps. After the vigil, the Faces of Homelessness Panel will be held in SWG 115 and will feature local community members, who will share their experiences of being homeless. Volunteers are also needed to wrap napkins and utensils for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. The activity will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, November 21, in Daly’s Dinning Hall.
A Reason to Celebrate – Annual Thanksgiving Celebration
Thursday, November 20, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The luncheon, which will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the BLC Cavalla Room, is free for students who present a ticket and donate a canned food item. The donation is $6 per ticket for faculty and staff. Tickets are available at the ticket booth on the second floor of the SRC for the University’s traditional Thanksgiving luncheon.
Feed the Homeless and You Will Feed the Hungry
Saturday, November 22
Please join the Rider Campus Ministry and its efforts to spread the joy and warmth of the Thanksgiving season! Volunteers are needed to serve a pre-Thanksgiving meal to the homeless in the area from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, at St. Mary's Cathedral in Trenton. Rider is responsible for providing about 350 meals as part of The Loaves and Fishes gathering.
In addition to Rider’s athletics teams, fraternities, sororities and service organizations, individual volunteers are needed to donate money and cookies, set up tables, greet people, serve meals and clean up throughout the morning. ARAMARK, Rider’s food service, will prepare the meal and donate the paper goods and utensils.
The Loaves and Fishes is a nonprofit organization that serves hot meals to the poor and homeless of Trenton the last two Saturdays of every month and is dependent on volunteer organizations to provide the meals.
For more information please call Helen Carroll at x7275 or e-mail carrollh@rider.edu, or call Chris De Frehn at x7137 or e-mail defrehn@rider.edu.
