Sunny-puffy-vest-kinda day...

Saturday. This is the first Saturday in a very long time that I haven't had anything in particular to do in the afternoon. I'm currently sitting in a local coffeeshop in Mt. Airy- a neighboring neighborhood to mine (Germantown) in Philly. It's a mild day-- a long sleeve t-shirt with a puffy vest kinda day-- but still wonderfully sunny.

This morning was the Walk Against Hunger, sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger. The School for Social Change had a team walk-- made up of some staff, and EIC students. The six mile walk was pretty nice on a day like today, and I always am inspired by seeing a lot of people out supporting an important cause.

Here are some facts from the Hunger Walk webpage that were gathered in December of 2006 by a survey in 23 cities (one of which was Philly) about hunger:
* Requests for emergency food assistance increased in 74 percent of the survey cities, with an average increase of 7 percent. Philadelphia's demand increased 18 percent.
* More are in jobs paying less than a living wage. (Pennsylvania's minimum wage is $5.15/hour. A family of four earning $9.62/hour or $20,000/year is considered by our government to be living in poverty. By some estimates, a living wage for a family in Southeastern Pennsylvania is approximately $23/hour.)
* Many have been left economically stranded by companies that have closed or downsized.
* Many are grandparents raising their grandchildren.
* Hundreds are elderly-people who are living longer and need more prescription drugs and medical care, the cost of which affects their food budgets.
* Others struggle during the winter when the cost of fuel affects their ability to heat and eat.
* Hundreds of families are especially burdened in the summer when children are out of school and no longer getting free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch.

While we were walking, some of us were having a conversation about our favorite restaurants, types of food, and etc. I love food. I love eating it, cooking it, and feeding it to others :). I know I take it for granted that I not only have access to food regularly- but that I can have whatever kind of food I want (well, I mean, not anything too crazy... but I think you get my point). I can experiment, try new foods, buy food from my local co-op in my neighborhood... and am truly blessed to be able to do so.

Anyways. This coming week a lot is going on: on Tuesday we have a student from Eastern's main campus coming to our Philly campus to talk to the students from EIC who are going to Egypt. She grew up in Egypt- her parents are missionaries- and she is going to share pictures and perspectives from her life there. The students from EIC are interested in knowing what myths Americans may have about life in Egypt, and about Christian/Muslim relations. I'm excited to see how this conversation goes. The student coming to speak came to the CCO Jubilee conference and I met here there. We also have started our school snack shop-- and will continue that this week. Our EIC Play, The Doors of the Church are Locked: Now What? most likely has a venue and a date (to be announced soon! it's ALMOST official). So, things are going well.

Well, now it's time for me to work on a final paper for my Urban Youth Culture Class: Due on Monday.