Honors Programs are often centered around the idea of service to others. UNF's program is no exception. So this year, one of my partners at Deree and I decided to try doing a service project. I understand that the idea of volunteer service among young people is not that common. I wonder if there is such a strong support system through families and friends in Greece that perhaps there is less of a need for "public service" than in the US, where most high school and many college kids are routinely asked to help out in the community.
We partnered with an NGO that runs a food bank in the neighborhood. We were stationed in groups at various large grocery stores and asked to hand out leaflets to shoppers asking them to support the food bank with a donation of food. The NGO members told us that they had tried this collection only once before, and never with students, but they loved the idea. Many were curious about why these people with foreign accents (and not much Greek!) were collecting for the food bank. We speculated that perhaps having foreigners out there trying to help in the crisis might encourage (shame) people into donating more. Next time we will all wear our UNF tee-shirts!
We partnered with an NGO that runs a food bank in the neighborhood. We were stationed in groups at various large grocery stores and asked to hand out leaflets to shoppers asking them to support the food bank with a donation of food. The NGO members told us that they had tried this collection only once before, and never with students, but they loved the idea. Many were curious about why these people with foreign accents (and not much Greek!) were collecting for the food bank. We speculated that perhaps having foreigners out there trying to help in the crisis might encourage (shame) people into donating more. Next time we will all wear our UNF tee-shirts!
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| A lot of pasta at the food bank! |
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| Inside the pantry |
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| Milk, canned goods, olive oil,crackers and some treats. |
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| The whole group |
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| Lily at work |
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| Thomas collecting at the Jumbo |
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| Someone took a flier! |
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| Another big grocery store, with our group out front. |
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| Already have some collections! |
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| Ready to hand out fliers. |
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| Success! |
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| Thank you! |
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