McAuley House:
Strengthening Partnerships
As of October 13, 2013, FRN@ Brown
is excited to announce an expanded partnership with McAuley House. Larry
Loverty, McAuley’s Kitchen Manager, will now recover both Wednesday 11:30am and
Friday 11:30am pickups from the Sharpe Refractory. Additionally Larry expects
increased student involvement through volunteer shadowing shifts during morning
pickups throughout the week.
These shadowing shifts or “ride
alongs” would give individual reps a behind the scenes look at how and where
our partner organizations actually acquire large volumes of food from both
private and public sources. Interested reps should email Shelby_wilson@brown.edu, and expect
an early morning bus commute followed by 2-3 hours of heavy lifting and
loading. Your mission- should you choose to except it- would include fun, experiential
education about high volume food distribution, and insider knowledge of
McAuley’s meal service operations. The FRN@ Brown Leadership highly encourages
reps to pursue this opportunity, and expects that shifts will fill fast. Thus
email ASAP to ensure your ideal scheduling!
We Share Hope:
Parting ways
As
of October 11, 2013, FRN@ Brown and We Share Hope (WSH) are parting ways. This
unfortunate but necessary development comes after a series of meetings and
conversations with WSH’s founder, Steve Martin. During these conversations, it
became clear that the high volume output and operations of WSH and the
relatively low-volume pickup at Sharpe Refractory were incompatible. Thus, the
good news: Steve and WSH will have more time and availability for extremely
high volume pickups and run a more efficient and effective service for RI’s
food insecure. The bad news: WSH will no longer be available to recover food on
Friday shifts. Graciously, Steve Martin has offered his continued support and
mentorship for FRN and its members and encouraged partnership on future events
such as gleaning and shift shadowing for pickup and delivery events.
RIHAP and HOPE:
Formalizing Shelter Standards
Thanks to the generous support of
Jana Foxe of Brown’s Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE), FRN
has begun formalizing the process of vetting partner organizations and
shelters. This process necessarily involves input from shelter management, the
homeless who frequent shelters, and a wide variety of organizations involved in
case management, homelessness outreach, and food insecurity. RIHAP (Rhode
Island Homeless Advocacy Project) drafted a letter to send to shelters with
poor standards- i.e. no hot water or allegations of staff eating donated food-
and is seeking input from FRN@Brown. Unfortunately, Urban League, our night
donation recipient, is one of the shelters named on this list. Thus, we are
currently in the process of reviewing the letter and will integrate insight and
recommendations from RIHAP and HOPE
into FRN’s first ever Shelter Contract Statutes.
By formalizing the process of
shelter vetting we can ensure that donations are being used efficiently and
reaching those who need food the most. Additionally, various shelters may
impose intake requirements that actively support political agendas that do not
align with FRN@Brown’s inclusive and secular stance. One example of this is the
rejection of LGBTQ guests due to their non-heterosexual lifestyle. Thankfully,
this is not an issue we have faced with our partners in Rhode Island, but it
serves as one example of how and why written statutes will guide future
partnerships for FRN on a national scale and ensure that we provide support to
socially responsible institutions. Interested students are encouraged to email Shelby_wilson@brown.edu with any
input, comments, and questions about this process. A focus group meeting will
be scheduled if sufficient interest is expressed in relation to this project.
