College of Business Administration

GROUP MEMBERS:

Abell
Heinisch
Jones
Kuenzi

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

For our social change project, after deliberation, we decided to arrange a food donation through a restaurant to a charitable organization. One of our members, Kevin, works for the upscale University Club restaurant in Downtown. His manager consented to donating the University Club food surplus once a month to an organization that could redistribute it to those in need. Next, we set out to find an organization that could perform this task. After a brief Internet search we found the San Diego Rescue Mission. The San Diego Rescue Mission operates three facilities in the city. The facility that we dealt with was the Women and Children's Shelter in South Downtown San Diego. This facility provides food and shelter to about forty women and children nightly. Additionally the San Diego Rescue Mission houses approximately six to seven women and their children during their two year participation in its program. The San Diego Rescue Mission staff interviews applicants for this program and makes its selections based upon need of services and commitment to self-improvement. Those accepted receive a myriad of health, educational, and employment services. Participants in the program complete tasks to assist in operating the facility. They must become involved in education and at some point begin an active job search.

Our project entailed organizing the University Club's food donation to the San Diego Rescue Mission. Their monthly seafood buffet produces an abundance of food that was previously distributed among employees, with the remainder thrown away. The San Diego Rescue Mission continuously seeks out donations for the women and children in its program and for the women and children it shelters nightly. Our group arranged delivery of the food from the restaurant and assisted in serving it the following afternoon.

Our project is socially and ethically important because we contributed to helping others in society. Not only not causing harm, but also assisting others is important for all members of society to do. Our actions were consistent with Social Contract Theory, the principles of Utilitarianism, as well as Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative.

As members of society, we gain the benefits of social living and social order. If we did not have the cooperation of others in society we could not continue living in the current state of nature. Our participation within society requires certain contributions to other rational members. If we did not agree to harm others and divide essential good among citizens then this world would become uninhabitable. Therefore, our project provided help to others, which is obligatory for those in society. Those that have more should give to those that have less, under the presupposition that others will do the same as citizens.

One could also judge the piety of our project through a utilitarian framework. From this viewpoint, one would see that our actions resulted in a greater amount of happiness then unhappiness. Our project was morally significant because the happiness derived from having food outweighed any unhappiness that was caused to the employees who previously would have received their choice of the left over seafood buffet. Furthermore, each person's welfare is as important as anyone else's, including our own, so giving away what one doesn't need to someone who does is always the correct standard of conduct.

In addition, charitable giving is a universal moral law in the sense that we could rationally hope that all would abide by it. Thus, we are morally obligated, as rational agents, to be helpful to others. Fulfilling our moral and social obligations is what gives our project importance.