The College of Charleston, along with countless organizations and individuals, will observe National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week November 15-21 – the week prior to Thanksgiving. The College of Charleston Center for Civic Engagement will host a variety of events during the week to educate people about hunger and homelessness. Their hope is that increased awareness of these issues will translate into the action needed to help solve the problems of hunger and homelessness in our society.

To kick off the event, Mayor Joseph Riley will read his annual Hunger and Homelessness Proclamation on Monday, November 16, at 4:00 p.m. This event will be held in the Stern Center Ballroom and is open to the public.

Following the mayor’s proclamation, students will participate in the Missouri Community Action Poverty Simulation, sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement. This exercise will be split into four 20-minute segments, during which participants will take on the role of an assigned character. Some will be disabled, some will find themselves homeless and others will be senior citizens on Social Security. Each 20-minute block represents a week that participants will have to survive and “make ends meet” as their character. Through the poverty simulation, participants will actually have a chance to walk a month in someone else’s shoes.

The poverty simulation is being offered in partnership with East Cooper Community Outreach (ECCO), a local non-profit organization, which provides basic needs, healthcare and emergency financial services to residents of Charleston and Berkeley Counties.

“ECCO is actively engaged in raising awareness about poverty and its impact on the local community,” said Gail Montgomery, ECCO’s Director of its Out of Poverty Initiative. “We are pleased that the College of Charleston has chosen to work with us to bring the simulation to its student body, and hope that other schools, agencies and business organizations will follow suit and join us in broadening the reach of this program.”

The Center for Civic Engagement will also sponsor a Food for Thought lunch series, a Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Fair and a showing of the movie, Pursuit of Happyness.

For more information, contact Mary Pat Twomey at twomeym@cofc.edu or 843.953.0810.