afyr Saily Har Hrrl
Program fills hungry kids’ bags
Students working
to grow nonprofit
BY ANASA HICKS
STAFF WRITER
Along with school assignments,
some Chapel Hill and Carrboro
children can now earn' home food
in their backpacks.
Volunteers with Table, a
new nonprofit organization in
Carrboro, give children backpacks
not plastic bags, which lack
privacy filled with food to take
home with them Thursday, and
the children return the backpacks
Monday.
“Teachers talk about kids com
ing in from the weekend, not hav
ing had much to eat," said Kathy
Herington, a UNC junior who is
on the board of directors.
“By targeting children, we’re actu
ally giving them the tools they need
to work to improve their fiiture.'
Table had its first distribution
Feb. 29. The organization gave
backpacks to seven children at El
Centro Latino, another nonprofit
in Carrboro, as part of an eight
week pilot program.
Table Executive Director Joy
Mac Vane said the organization
grew out of a relationship between
her and the UNC students who
walk by her house daily.
Mac Vane lives in downtown
Chapel Hill and said she used to
put out cookies or hot chocolate for
students who walked by her house
on their way to campus. One day
she put out a sign inviting anyone
to help her bake a cake for a iocal
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“We re actually
giving them the
tools they need to
work to improve
their future”
KATHY HERINGTON, UNC JUNIOR
homeless shelter.
Herington was one of the 11 stu
dents who came. She helped form
Table last semester.
Mac Vane said that when she
began to talk with UNC students
about Table, some said there are
already plenty of food resources
within the community.
But she realized that children
don’t have control over whether
their parents take advantage of
available resources.
“A program that targets children
really benefits the whole family,"
Herington said.
Chris Moran, executive director
of the Inter-Faith Council for Social
Services, said Table also benefits
the student volunteers.
“This particular program is very
different from most nonprofits
because it’s focusing on how to help
students focus on areas of service
that they might want to consider,"
he said.
The organization has 25 active
volunteers.
“More and more. I’m seeing
Table as a community organiza
tion that has student volunteers
but also students focusing as lead
ers of the organization," Mac Vane
said.
Hp . m
u~
DTH/CASSIE BUTLER
Volunteers Claire Newlon and Sandy Skolochenko pack a backpack
with canned food at El Centro Latino on March 6 for a weekly program.
Table had its first fundraiser, a bar
night at The Library , on Tuesday.
Junior Katie Lefevre, who
planned the event, heard about
Table through the Campus Y list
serv.
“I’ve been looking for ways to
help out because there’s so much
poverty and need right outside
of our area, and 1 like kids," she
said.
“It seemed like the perfect way
to combine my interests."
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News
Table is gearing up for a much
larger food distribution in the fall.
Mac Vane said one of its goals is to
find other ways to provide food for
children.
“It reinforces for me my sense
that food is more than just a source
of nutrition; it can also be a source
of connection between people," she
said.
Contact the City Editor
at eitydeskfu unc.edu.
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MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008
Exchange students
adapt to campus life
BY RACHEL KUROWSKI
STAFF WRITER
For Sofia Mitjans. the biggest
adjustment she had to make was
buying her own groceries.
Mitjans, who is at UNC for
the spring semester, usually lives
with her family in Buenos Aires.
Argentina, so she doesn’t have to
worry about cooking for herself or
buying her own groceries.
Mitjans also enjoys more lib
erty in Chapel Hill —with no one
to report to when she comes in at
night on the weekends.
Life at Universidad del Salvador
in Buenos Aires is different from
life as a Tar Heel.
For university students who
study abroad, the jolt of culture
and language can make the adjust
ment challenging at first.
Students from other countries
who come to Chapel Hill often feel
the same culture shock that UNC
students face when they study
abroad.
Mitjans arrived in January and
said her first month was the hard
est because of the language barrier
and being so far from home.
“Little things, like everyone pay
ing by cards instead of cash and
how the grocery stores function,
confused me," she said.
“But instead of thinking this is
too hard and different, I reminded
myself that I have only four months
here and 1 may never have a chance
like this again."
Some exchange students decide
they like Chapel Hill enough to stay.
Patricia Casbas came to UNC from
Madrid, Spain, to study biochemis
try for the 2007-08 year. Now she’s
applied to a doctoral program and
will be here for another five years.
Like Mitjans, the centralized cam -
pus and “university environment"
were a big change for Casbas.
“In Madrid, I just go to the
university for classes and then go
home,’ said Casbas, who attends
Universidad Complutense de
Madrid. “But here. I get to enjoy
being a student."
Diana Levy, assistant director
of the International Student and
Scholar Services, said her office
encourages international students
to get involved during their stay at
UNC. “It's an experiential education
not just classes," she said.
Levy said the Easing Abroad
Students Entry program can be a
big part of that.
The program promotes events
and dialogue between UNC stu
dents who have studied abroad and
foreign students.
Junior Bridget Rogers participat
ed in the EASE program last semes
ter after studying in India. She men
tored a student from South Korea.
“I think the program benefits
both the participant and the vol
unteer." she said.
"The volunteer gets to learn
about the other's culture while the
international student always has
someone to help them adjust to
American life or just someone to
go to the grocery store with.’
Contact the Features Editor
a/features (a unc.cdu
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