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Developing a Student-Led Food and

Community Outreach Program
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 lthough CP works out of the courtyard of St. Marks Lutheran Church, it is
not religiously affiliated and it does not discriminate under any circumstances.

 CP is open to the community Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 11-1.

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 s a student organization, CP meets Thursdays from 5-6 to pack lunches.

 CP also organizes food drives on campus, as well as philanthropy projects

for other organizations.
 s a student organization, CP is responsible for raising awareness about
poverty, hunger, and homelessness around USC.

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Whatever staff member works in the office is responsible for keeping both the
lists and the cards up to date.

To make sure there are enough lunches, several people pack for us: the CP
student organization, Orchard House, and the United University Church.

Someone in the office will place at least 20 of each type of lunch into large
plastic bins to be taken on site.

 lso taken on site: a bin of fruit; the list; the cards; a fire extinguisher; a first aid
kit; plastic bags; a can opener¶ sandwich bags; bulletin board with a monthly
calendar and site rules; information about other programs for referrals; tokens
or vouchers if it¶s a transportation day.
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1. Each person can pick up for two people under their name on the list that
have shown proper ID.
2. dults can pick up one lunch a week.
3. Seniors can pick up three times a week.
4. Children can pick up three times a week.
5. Each adult lunch comes with one fruit from the bin.
6. ID must be presented once for any person that is given a lunch.
7. The drink on site is free, and clients can drink as much as they¶d like.
8. Clients have the option of picking up two crackers for every lunch that is not
a Tuna or a Child¶s.
9. Lunch options include: Tuna, Sausage, Baked Beans, Pasta, and Chicken
Noodle Soup.
10.Each lunch contains an entrée, a granola bar, a juice, and a box of raisins.
11.Each Child¶s lunch contains a granola bar, a box of raisins, a fruit roll-up, a
juice, and two crackers, plus the option of string cheese or peanut butter.
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Clients come in and give their
name as well as the name of
anyone they are picking up for that
day.
 member of our staff checks
them off on the list as having
picked up on that day.

The client tells us his or her

lunch preference.

The client receives the lunches in

a plastic bag and adds one fruit
per adult lunch.

We give out about 200 lunches

per week.
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First time clients come in and show an ID. Our staff records name, address,
and any person the new client would like to pick up for. Then the new names
are added to the list.
The list is updated monthly. Red means senior, green means child. Clients
are checked off when they pick up a lunch. lso on the list is a record of
whether or not we have seen valid ID.
Once clients have brought in valid ID for everyone on their list, an official card
is printed to keep in our records. Until then, they have a temporary card.

There is a separate but similar list for bus tokens and taxi vouchers.
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1. Bus Tokens can be picked up the first two Wednesdays of each month.
1. Four tokens can be picked up per visit, and eight per month per address.
2. Seniors may pick up eight tokens their first visit of the month.
2. Taxi Vouchers can be picked up the first two Fridays of each month.
1. Two vouchers can be picked up per visit, and four per month per
address.
3. Clients may pick up a combination of two vouchers and four tokens per
month per address.
4. To pick up for another person, clients MUST bring verification of their
disability.
1. Then, clients may pick up three tokens OR two vouchers for the disabled
person that month.
5. To pick up Bus Tokens or Taxi Vouchers, clients MUST bring ID.
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We get our Taxi Vouchers and Bus Tokens from F ME (First frican Methodist
Episcopal), who has the contract with the Metropolitan Transit uthority for
tokens and vouchers in Los ngeles and Long Beach.

 fter filling out an application and meeting the requirements (as a non-profit,
tax-exempt organization), we were granted permission to receive each month
200 bus tokens and 50 taxi vouchers to distribute for free.
Bus tokens are worth $1.25; taxi vouchers are worth $7.

F ME has very specific regulations: our records must be kept in a certain way
with client signatures to keep this service. We can be cited up to three times
before the service is revoked.

F ME does not have enough to give to all of the organizations it provides to,
so we must show up early to obtain our tokens and vouchers.
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The biggest benefit of using St Marks as our site is that it¶s not on campus.
Students do not encounter our clients during our hours unless they¶re staff or
volunteers.
 lso, our clients feel safe and comfortable. No one tells them they aren¶t
allowed to be there, so many sit in the courtyard to eat and chat.

The hours are chosen by the staff. Clients have been told that hours may
change when the semester changes; however, the students on staff try to keep
the current hours and work their schedules around CP.

The hours must be during definite daylight.

 CP originally began with three hours for each day, but that was too long ± two
hours works out much better.

One reason that this is a convenient location, well, I¶ve been going to the
library next door for quite some time, I¶ve been going to the services for quite
some time, so here, why not?´
- rthur
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Our clientele is mostly Hispanic and frican- merican.

The average client is not homeless, just a member of the working poor. They
live in apartments, usually with their extended families or roommates. Recently
a number of recovering addicts and women on parole have also been coming.

Mothers and grandmothers often come to pick up for entire families.

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Tabling USC¶s Involvement and Volunteer Fairs to get more students active in
CP
E-mail list: weekly Wednesday e-mails reminding students about Thursday
lunch packing, opportunities to volunteer on site, and any other CP information

We also work with other groups, who either volunteer to pack lunches for us or
organize a food drive for us

Because we are a recognized student organization, we can apply for USC

philanthropy

We offer opportunities for students to do projects

We provide students with business cards to hand out instead of money

We try to raise awareness around USC about hunger and poverty in our
community
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We pack lunches every Thursday from 5-6 on campus.

Lunch packing usually takes on an assembly line format, where the people at
the head of the table open the bags and insert the juice and the entrée, then the
next people on either side will add raisins and granola bars, and the people at
the end of the line will fold, label, staple, and put in bins.

We pack about 300 lunches a week.

Other groups pack for us ± the Latter Day Saints buy food for and pack Child¶s
Lunches every year around Thanksgiving.

If packing doesn¶t take the full hour, we sit and hold a meeting to discuss any
club issues that may need to be addressed.
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Many student organizations try to arrange food drives for us. We tell them that
we gladly accept donations, and are eager to have a Dining Dollars Food Drive
at the end of each semester.

Our conditions on food donations are that the food items must be things that
we can use ± juices, canned foods, granola bars, etc.

When food items are donated that we cannot use, we put them into a box at
the end of the school year for clients to pick up.

 t the end of Spring Semester 2007, CP placed collection boxes in the

Customer Service Centers of University-owned apartments off-campus in our
Feed the Poor´ Drive. We collected over 200 pounds of food.
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We applied for Philanthropy from the USC fund that gives to recognized USC
organizations. The fund gave us a close to $4350, which is the maximum
amount given to any organization.
 my filled out a form that asks for detailed information about our program
(effectiveness and how it helps the community), as well as what the money
will be used for.
We also had to provide a specific list of everything that would be
purchased for our program ± i.e. how many Vienna sausages, how many
juices, how many granola bars, how many raisins.
We then presented a five minute presentation to the Philanthropy Board,
who voted on how much money to give to us.

rants involve research and proposal writing. Currently, a team of Business
students is researching applicable grants for us to try to obtain. Some grants
require a supervisor to come to our site to approve of our organization and use
of funding.
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/000
 CP started by serving 125 lunches a month, and now serves 200 a day.
Over the past two years, CP developed a strategy for well-organized record
keeping.
 CP now receives from a variety of funding sources.
 CP has strong ties with USC, specifically Hospitality Services, whose
nutritionist helps us organize what will be in lunches.
The USC Volunteer Center is more committed to helping and recruiting for
CP.
 ddition of bus tokens and taxi vouchers.
Originally, our clients came for conversations and a wide variety of referrals,
whereas now clients mostly just pick up food or transportation, and we only
refer people to P TH.
 CP staff now takes on more responsibilities.
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Our staff believes, more than anything, in the importance of forming
relationships with the people in the community, and getting to know them so
that not only can we better address their needs, but also for the sake of meeting
some of the greatest people in Los ngeles.
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So, what do you need to create an organization like CP?
 nearby, not on-campus site, like St Marks.
Some way of getting lunches ± CP started without funds, but the UUC
provided us with 125 sack lunches a month.
Committed, responsible volunteers.
 CP used its first funds for work-study; however, it might benefit your
program to use the first funds for lunches or other materials.