College of Business Administration

GROUP MEMBERS:

Amy Benson
Joe Hiner
Ernesto Carrillo
Peter Tate
Scott Allen

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

For our social change project, we decided to hold a canned food drive to collect donations for the homeless at the Alpha Project shelter. We also asked two non-profit organizations (Ocean Park Inn and Red Lion Hotel) to donate their extra linens which consisted of towels, sheets, blankets, comforters, and things to help the homeless.

Daily, homeless people go unnoticed. They only have the streets to stay on, usually only owning at most a blanket and random items they have been given or found in the dumpsters. We realized the very basic needs like food and warmth were not being provided for the homeless so we wanted to help out. Yet, instead of distributing the items randomly to the homeless on the streets, we came to the conclusion that the best way to donate the items equally would be to give them to a homeless shelter. We also wanted to help out the Alpha Project since they are a non-profit organization trying to help out those who need it.

We first held our canned food drive at Henry’s Market and received hundreds of cans of food. Next, we collected the major donations from the hotels and delivered all of the items together to the Alpha Project. While we were donating, most homeless said thank you yet did not appreciate the fact that we were videotaping during the donation period. The workers at the Alpha Project were very appreciative and expressed to us that they were running short on food and especially blankets and towels, so we felt that we made a difference. Along with the canned food, monetary donations were made, so with that money we went into the grocery store and purchased more canned food and also lots of baby food. We figured that they could use the baby food for all of the infants that were being housed in the shelter. Indeed, they did need it, the babies were living off of mostly liquid before we donated our items, so that made a he difference.

During our social change project, we focused on the ethic of care. Each person is part of an interdependent relationship which has an effect on the decisions they make. We kept in mind that even though we may not have any direct relationship or contact with the homeless, we knew that some for the decisions we made in the past and those in the future will have an effect on the homeless. So, we decided that we could take this opportunity and create a direct relationship that will continue after we graduate. The direct relationship created was by our presence donating items they needed to live, seeing their faces, and knowing that they appreciate the help and the items. Now, year after year the hotels have agreed to continue to donate their old linens and things to the shelter and continue to build this relationship and make the right decisions to work on this interdependent relationship.

The attributes of work that are meaningful to us are: sanctions self-sufficiency, is fairly compensated, and builds relationships. This social change project permitted us to work on things at our own pace and during our own time. This helped because we all work full-time jobs, and have a full-time school schedule, so in the end we all had the opportunity to contribute to the project. We all had the chance to see how rough it is for the homeless, where and how they live, and what they have to deal with on a daily basis. We took a lot out of this project that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. It showed us that we should learn to appreciate what we have, take the opportunities that are given to us, and work hard because even though we have bad days, there are others who are on the brink of life or death because they do not have access to food or warmth. We also hold a great feeling of joy because we have started something that will continue on year after year, and many more homeless will receive things that they would not have if we did not take the time to contribute to this interdependent relationship.