By Amelia Alverson, Executive Vice President for University Development and Alumni Relations

One of the most pressing issues of our time is the ever-widening gap of income inequality. Most of us have read about the truly staggering statistics, including the fact that the three richest individuals in the United States – Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos – collectively hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of the nation’s population.

For me, this is even closer to home, as I support the Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries. An organization that began in 1989 and today serves more than 1 million meals a year in southwestern Connecticut. Connecticut is second only to New York in leading the country in income inequality. The average income of Connecticut’s wealthiest 1 percent is nearly 43 times what the bottom 99 percent take home. In the midst of such extraordinary wealth, I am deeply moved by the fact that so many of my neighbors are living at or below the poverty line.

While a soup kitchen does not directly impact the root cause of this extreme inequality, it certainly makes a difference in the lives of the families being served. This is summarized best by one of the Founders who in the earliest days mandated that everyone eat together, including the volunteers who serve the meals. In her words, “When you eat, everybody eats, so there is no difference between those giving and those being served. Otherwise, you’re taking the pride away from the people when you don’t sit and eat with them.”

Marisol Lopez, Associate Director for Gift Systems

Growing up in Dorchester, Massachusetts during the 80s and 90s was challenging, gang violence and drugs were a staple in my neighborhood. As first generation Americans and under the guidance of my parents, my two brothers and I were determined to excel in school and make it out without tipping the negative scale of statistics where too many of our peers had landed.

My eldest brother, Mauricio a.k.a. Coach Mo, believed in and wanted better not just for us but for our community. He motivated and inspired my brother and I to “get involved”. In 1997 he established the Metro Boston AAU Basketball Program. Together, throughout the years, we have worked tirelessly to gain sponsors and to provide our players with both athletic and academic support.

We are now an official program of the Boston YMCA and the Metro Boston AAU program is one of the most well rounded programs in the northeast. We have alumni that are professionals (private, public, non-profit, education, collegiate, NBA and NFL) , in college, giving back (volunteering, mentoring, donating) and raising their own families.  Most notably, UConn alumn and current Brooklyn Nets player Shabazz Napier and a 2011 Columbia College grad, Asenso Ampim.

Our motto is Family First. Our mission is to provide young adults with the necessary skills to succeed on the court but more importantly in life.

By Maria Angeles-Taveras, Executive Assistant

We feed hundreds of people at each event and the happiest part for me is to see a smile on someone’s face as they eat and talk with others.  So many of these people have loved ones in prison or other hardships and it makes me so happy to offer words of hope and encouragement, showing them that they are not forgotten and we can help.  We give them cards to fill out to ask about their greatest, most immediate needs and work with local groups and politicians to make things happen.  I have roots in the Dominican Republic and I do a lot of this type of work there, too, including at an orphanage.  This is my passion – to help people to live better lives!

Will McGuinness ’17SPS, Director of CAA Marketing, Digital Initiatives & Outreach

I grew up in what many rankings have determined to be one of the worst places in America. I spent most of my childhood in its Boys and Girls Club, and the experience formed my identity in significant ways.

Recently, I returned to my hometown of Fall River, Massachusetts and delivered a keynote speech to an audience of 500+ donors and high school seniors who deserved recognition and prizes. Some are going on to college, but the majority are entering the workforce or the military. The speech was an opportunity to examine my life, my privilege, and what I could do to make a difference in the lives of kids who had a similar experience to mine.

Now, I’m starting a new research and development board for this Club that fundraises to develop better mentoring and better training programs in addition to scholarship opportunities for young people who don’t think higher education is an option.

“Stand, Columbia” has been this University’s alma mater and rallying message for more than a century. It’s based on the notion that we can sit back in a state of shock by what happens in the world — or we can stand for a higher ideal of what life should be. I stand to create new opportunities for those, like me, who didn’t think they could ever attend an Ivy League school. What do you stand for?

Maria Newman ’80JRN, Director of Alumni Relations at the Journalism School

I’m taking a stand for democracy, because our country needs all of us to participate.

Before I started working at Columbia almost four years ago, I was a journalist. Through my training, including as a student at the Columbia Journalism School, I was taught not to take sides but instead to look at social and political issues with dispassion, so that I could write about them fairly. I could never post signs on my lawn, couldn’t put bumper stickers on my car, couldn’t attend rallies in favor or against something, only if I was there to cover the story. That was okay. I had chosen the life of bearing witness to history, not one of an activist.

Since I left my journalism career, it has been a bit liberating, and even a little scary, to exercise my right as a citizen to voice opinions on issues, and even take actions. For me, one of the biggest lessons of the 2016 election is that not enough of us vote or speak up. Since then, I have been moved to get involved in issues.

I have called my congressmen to let them know what I think about certain policies coming out of Washington. I have been out on the streets chanting with crowds at rallies and marches every chance I get. And this fall I volunteered on several political campaigns. I even held a phone bank at my house one Sunday to call voters in support of one candidate in my home state of Texas.

It was very gratifying to read today in The New York Times, my old employer, that preliminary data shows that voters turned out in the midterm elections at rates not seen in half a century.

Our democracy only works when we all get involved. It’s been very rewarding to talk to voters who feel like I do, that we need change in this country, and that we hold a lot of power in our hands with our one vote.

Jessica Herstein, Assistant Director, Financial Management Office

I’ve been involved in the New York City HIV/AIDS community for the last 25 years. Growing up in the 1980s, HIV was a scary disease and there was a major stigma surrounding it. One afternoon, my mother stopped by the Housing Works Thrift Shop in Chelsea and took home a pamphlet for me detailing volunteering opportunities at the store. She suggested I volunteer on weekends to keep myself busy because of my tendency to sit on my couch and watch a lot of TV (still a thing !). At that time, I had never met anyone (knowingly) with the virus and being a naive 15-year-old, I was a little afraid, admittedly, to volunteer with someone who had it. Unfortunately, I was not alone in my ignorance as a teenager and am so grateful my mother took home the pamphlet that day. Volunteering at Housing Works side-by-side with clients who were positive, made me realize my folly and naive ignorance. I was taken in with open arms and made amazing friends. I volunteered there for two years every Sunday taking donations that were sold in the shop and raised money for the organization. When I turned 17, I needed to get a paying job and didn’t return back to volunteering until I was 25.

I knew HIV/AIDS awareness was a passion of mine and split my time volunteering with LifeBeat and God’s Love We Deliver. At LifeBeat, volunteers attend concerts and educate young people on protecting themselves from sexually transmitted diseases. God’s Love We Deliver cooks fresh meals in their Soho kitchen and feeds home-bound sick clients (and their dependents) who cannot take care of their own nutritional needs. 

I volunteered with God’s Love We Deliver every Sunday in their kitchen for three years chopping fresh vegetables that were used in healthy soups and entrees. I delivered food to recipients’ homes and saw how grateful they were to have visitors and a healthy meal tailored to their conditions. Attached is a photo from the meal prep line on Thanksgiving Eve.

This organization is extremely close to my heart and I can’t say enough about how much good they do. I’ve met some of my favorite people volunteering and feel it’s become a huge part of me.

By Michael Higgins, External Relations and Development Coordinator at the Business School and Co-Founder and Chair of The Food Pantry at Columbia

Hunger on this campus, on any campus, is nothing new. Everyone can appreciate that students may skip meals. However, the presumption is that those students voluntarily skip meals because they chose to skip meals. The fact is that students skip meals not because they have better things to do. They skip meals because they do not have the resources to pay for meals. In May 2016, students took it upon themselves to do something about it.

The Food Pantry at Columbia started as a vision within the General Studies Student Council. From this, I and Ramond Curtis, my fellow co-founder, spearheaded this initiative that has two major mission philosophies – shine a spotlight on the stigma of hunger on our campus and provide access to non-perishable food to any Columbia affiliate who needs it. While I focused on the logistics of our initiative, Ramond focused on the administrative side. Before the end of the year, we had not only distributed over 150 disbursements to students throughout the University, but we also secured permanent space within Lerner Hall, something that no other student group can state.

Within the last two years, The Food Pantry at Columbia has grown into the most influential student group within the University. We have distributed over 1300 disbursements to every School within the University. In addition, we have quantifiable data proving that hunger is a major problem within our University. Our goals are as attainable as they are ambitious. I am honored to be a part of such a powerful initiative and hope to be part of it for years to come as an employee at Columbia Business School.

Story from Alyssa Meyers, Senior Development Writer about her colleague Rebecca Kelliher, Associate Director of Editorial Services

I’d like to share a story of a colleague who is Taking a Stand through volunteering at Read Ahead, a non-profit, reading-based mentoring program. Rebecca Kelliher  works with an eight-year-old mentee at P.S. 125 for an hour each week, and here is what she had to say about her experience:

My Read Ahead mentee is eight years old, wears pink nail polish, and likes to dance to Shakira (as do I). For an hour each week, we read whatever books she picks. I love language, so I wanted to share the magic of words with a child discovering books for the first time. But I learned a Read Ahead mentor’s task is not so much to read but to connect with a child, wherever she is that week. While some days we sound out tricky words like “chaos,” other days we forget about Dr. Seuss and talk about nail polish instead. I am learning that half the journey of mentorship is simply being present. Because it shows a child you care.

My Read Ahead mentee, Blythe, drew this portrait of me (although my hair is not that long). She said she put “Blythe” on my shirt so I’d remember her name.