Childhood Hunger
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- August 21
Facing Poverty August 21, 2008
Spring Hill CollegeMOBILE, Alabama — The primary purpose of the Facing Poverty site is to provide a better understanding of the nature of poverty, to inspire moral and civic responsibility, and to promote justice for all. By bringing together information with documentary photographs and personal stories of area families struggling to make ends meet, we hope to raise awareness of the issues and challenges facing those who live in poverty, changing it from an abstraction to a reality, humanizing the lives of real people and the difficulties they face. It is our hope that by raising awareness both within our college community, and among voters as a whole, of the extent and scope of poverty, and of the unfair policies that underpin its continuity, we can help generate public support for change.
Project Background
Last year Spring Hill College began Facing Poverty as an interdisciplinary pilot project, conceived and directed by Associate Professor Barbara Starr. A number of community service agencies helped find low income families willing to participate; families were free to leave the project at any time, no questions asked, and given veto power over the information used on the website. Students involved received training concerning issues related to poverty and in approaching families with sensitivity and respect. Then, working in teams of two, students in the advanced photography course of Professor Tom Loehr visited the families to document their lives through photography. The advanced composition class of Professor Margaret Davis interviewed families in their homes to record their stories and later wrote essays about the social problems the families encountered. Theology students gathered quotations from various faith traditions. Political science students studied poverty and contributed the factual information. Then a graphic design class under the direction of Assistant Professor Janden Richards designed and constructed the website. This has truly been a collaborative effort. It has been much more difficult and time consuming than any of us could have imagined, and much more rewarding. All told, the project has involved some fifteen community liaisons, eighteen faculty and staff and over forty students. We extend our grateful thanks to the families for their generosity in sharing a bit of their lives with us. We learned so much from them. Spring Hill has adopted as its annual theme for 2007-2008 Weaving the Social Fabric: Facing Poverty, and the Facing Poverty Project will continue.
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