RotarACT Picnic!

Tomorrow afternoon, May 3rd, RotarACT will be having an end-of-year barbeque/picnic at Brackenridge Park! Joan and her husband, Dr. Kearl of the Sociology Department, will be kindly providing and grilling chicken and Portobello mushrooms. So far I have Rotaractors signed up to bring veggies, fruit, chips, brownies, and the like. We’re planning on meeting at about 2:45 in front of Mabee Dining Hall, and trooping over to Brackenridge together (preferably by foot, but we’ll see what needs to be carried). However, there is a 20% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow, so if need be we’ll carpool to the Kearls’ home for an indoor picnic.

I believe it’s safe to say that we’ve had a great first year, between the formation of ACT and its merging with Rotaract. Our food drive for Crestholme Food Pantry has been quite a success, but next semester we’re thinking of placing greater emphasis on directly working with community leaders, such as Michael at the Community Garden. I’m hoping that we’ll have the opportunity for an open dialogue on plans for the fall during the picnic, in which we can figure out where we should be placing the bulk of our energy next year. In sum, I’m sincerely delighted to be a part of this group, and excited for what lies ahead!

Update on Food Drive

Thanks to the kind donations of San Antonio Water Systems, RotarACT has collected several large boxes of non-perishable food items for Crestholme Food Pantry. Although we do not yet have a final tally of how much food has been collected, the generosity and commitment to the community demonstrated by SAWS employees will certainly have a significant impact on those who must occasionally rely on the Pantry to feed their families. Before the school year completely slips away from us, we hope to table on campus in Coates University Center to try to collect further funds for Crestholme. However, even if that endeavor cannot be realized, we will plan on continuing our relationship with Crestholme next fall, hopefully through more volunteering on site.

Last Tuesday I went to speak at the Dominion Rotary Club about Trinity RotarACT’s recent work with Crestholme and how that effort connects with Dominion’s longtime support of the San Antonio Food Bank. Although I did not receive any donations on the spot or offers to collaborate, the report seemed to be well received. The Dominion Club’s chair for community services expressed enthusiasm at the prospect of teaming Trinity RotarACT with local San Antonio Junior ACT and/or InterACT members, as she helps with chapters of both groups and believes connection among the groups would benefit all involved. Though I have not received a response from her in regards to my email on the possibility of such an event, I hope that perhaps we can engage younger students next fall, if our chapter sees it fit to do so. In any case, it appears that RotarACT is wrapping up a successful year, largely thanks to the sustained efforts of Stephanie Shelton (TU student) and Joan Kearl, along with many other dedicated and caring individuals.

Community Gardening!

Beginning Friday, April 17th and continuing through the remaining Fridays of this semester, RotarACT will be going to Little Flower Basilica for the afternoon to help work on a community garden. The Little Flower garden was actually one of ACT’s first engagements last fall, prior to joining with Rotaract. Michael Montoya spoke to the group at the Trinity campus on an evening in September about how he became in involved in nonprofit work and came to his current position of Community Programs Manager at the Basilica. Mr. Montoya’s story of searching for a meaningful career touched many of us present at his talk, and affected us through the day-to-day work he does to maintain the community garden and other affiliated programs. Many of us seized the opportunity to work on the garden a few times last fall, and bore witness to the true sense of neighborhood and goodwill that the garden fosters. We’re looking forward to returning this Friday!

On a follow-up note, only Sarah Jones and I were able to make it to the planting event working with refugees last Saturday, but we both felt it was a remarkable experience. We met about thirty people who are now refugees living in San Antonio, but are originally from Iraq and Iran. A few of the kids seemed especially willing to hang around and help us try (in vain) to pronounce a common Arabic greeting. We planted dozens of containers with small tomato, squash, and pepper seedlings, and gave them away to any of the refugees who expressed interest. I asked one little girl who was helping put fertilizer pellets into the pots if she had ever grown anything before. She responded, “Yes, I grew tomatoes in Baghdad.” I found it a simple yet utterly striking statement, coming from a small girl who could be no older than seven or eight. All the refugees we met were incredibly friendly and gracious, offering abundant smiles and bringing us juice as the morning warmed up. I believe Sarah and I were equally awed by these resilient people, and we agreed that it was a very well-spent Saturday morning.

Planting Language and Legumes!

On Saturday, April 4th, RotarACT plans to help another church-affiliated organization working to aid families new to San Antonio. This particular organization, sponsored by the University United Methodist Church, has been aiding refugees who have recently sought sanctuary in the United States. RotarACT will be helping with a morning of planting vegetable pots with these families and practicing English words that are relevant to the activity. Specifically, Rotaractors will set up stations for transferring various vegetable seedlings into larger containers, and will help the refugees pot the plants. The idea behind the project is tri-fold: to give refugees vegetable planters to decorate their porches and eventually harvest; to introduce practical English words that are related to gardening; and to build community through a family-oriented activity.

The families are from Iraq, Iran, and Sudan, and primarily speak Farsi or Arabic. Many now have students enrolled in the San Antonio Northside Independent School District, where they are studying under the English as a Second Language program. Local parents of students in Northside ISD have been working with other volunteers in the community, such as those from University United Methodist, to arrange activities intended for socializing and helping to integrate these refugee families into the San Antonio community. Rotaractors are looking forward to supporting the planting activity this weekend, and to potentially working with these families again!

Trinity RotarACT: Helping Feed San Antonio Families

In an effort to aid residents of San Antonio who have been especially afflicted by the economic crisis, Trinity University RotarACT has devoted its primary spring cause to helping Crestholme Food Pantry. Crestholme is operated by a single Presbyterian church with only forty members, yet in January alone, the pantry gave food to over one thousand needy individuals. Seven other churches in the area lend assistance to the pantry, but with unprecedented numbers of families in need, Crestholme is in dire want of more support.

For the past two months, members of Trinity RotarACT have been devoting hours to help Crestholme on site, by unloading food deliveries and helping to sign in new recipients. Rotaractors reported on how struck they were by the numbers and reactions of people who came to receive food for the first time, several deflated by a loss of autonomy yet tremendously grateful for the aid. Although volunteering efforts at Crestholme were certainly appreciated and had a profound impact on the Rotaractors, the pantry absolutely needs monetary and nonperishable food donations. In addition to sheer necessity, the present is an ideal time for Trinity Rotaract to raise donations for Crestholme, as the pantry is participating in the nation-wide Feinstein Foundation competition, which awards aid proportionally. For every dollar or food item Crestholme raises, it will be eligible to collect more funding from Feinstein.

As part of a broad effort to raise awareness about hunger in San Antonio and to gather donations for Crestholme Food Pantry, Trinity RotarACT is soliciting the support of the San Antonio Rotary Club. At the meeting on March 18th, Trinity Rotaractor Nicole Castro spoke at the podium about Crestholme and opportunities for Rotarians to become involved. Already many Rotarians have offered kind support for this community cause: Chris Well has donated boxes designated for food collection, and Kelley Neumann of San Antonio Water Systems has encouraged Trinity Rotaract to place boxes at ten SAWS locations. Additionally, many Rotarians have provided generous monetary donations; between jars left on tables at the luncheon and pledges made at the Rotaract table, Rotarians contributed over seven hundred dollars!

TU RotarACT considers efforts so far in bringing attention and aid to the crisis of hunger in San Antonio fairly successful, but will continue this project throughout the month of April. Plans are underway to set up an awareness/fundraising booth in Coates University Center, and a box to collect food items will also likely be placed in Coates, however, in recognition of the limited pantry supplies and grocery shopping opportunities of averages students, emphasis will be placed upon collecting spare change and hopefully donations through TigerBucks. Considering that food pantries such as Crestholme can purchase a pound of food for only fifteen cents from the Food Bank, the value of mere pocket change is significant, as is on-campus dialogue of this critical local issue.

Trinity RotarACT History

The Trinity University branch of Rotaract was established over ten years ago, but has experienced greatly fluctuating enrollment, alternating between being a strong community service group and a scarcely noticeable presence. However, as of January 2009, Trinity Rotaract has joined forces with a relatively new campus group, Trinity ACT. Trinity ACT recruited as many as 20-30 members during the fall 2008 semester, but lacked the bureaucratic legitimacy that Rotaract had long since established with the Campus and Community Involvement office of Trinity. So, in an effort to become more effective and valid in both the Trinity community and the larger San Antonio community, members of the two groups have come together under RotarACT to contribute meaningful volunteer endeavors. Although we endorse and applaud the widespread work of TUVAC (Trinity University Volunteer Action Community), RotarACT’s mission is to maintain a relatively small group of committed individuals who collaborate throughout the school year to make volunteer contributions that significantly affect the residents of the city of San Antonio. Future blogs will describe recent activities of Trinity Rotaract, as well as our upcoming events.