Biology major Daisy Allere was asked by a friend in her history class to go to the Compassion in Action Club meeting.
She said, “The holistic purpose of this club is to try to help students, like myself, who do not qualify for certain programs because of their household income, when they actually do need help but are not being looked at.”
C.i.A. President James Copla said that the ultimate goal for the club is to assist students in need.
He also wants to make sure that there is a substantial difference this semester in the food insecurity problem by establishing a food pantry that everyone is able to walk into and get what is needed at any time, not just once a semester.
Adjunct philosophy instructor and adviser for the C.i.A. Kim Berling first got the idea for the club last year when she was speaking about effective altruism in her critical thinking class and her students became interested in helping the less fortunate.
Berling explained; “I found huge-hearted, wonderful students who joined us and wanted to help. This idea for a club kind of grew from the seeds I had planted; and here we are today.”
Only a couple of students in C.i.A. Club were not in Berling’s class.
She added, “We met with board of trustees member Bob Arthur and Program Assistant of EOPS Richard Garcia with the goal to find out how [C.i.A.] may help the situation of food insecurity on campus […] we’re trying to figure out where we fit in and that’s what today’s meeting was about.”
Garcia was invited as a guest speaker to provide insight into how equity programs on campus function to assist students who experience economic or educational disadvantages.
He said, “I just gave some information on the school, awareness of economic status, [and] how many individuals are part of financial aid.
“I also intended to bring awareness that there are other organizations here on [and off] campus, I was giving some suggestions as to how [C.i.A Club] could collaborate and connect and hopefully see more allocation and funding.”
Copla said the most important topic discussed was the notion of using Garcia and Arthur as a resource of connections and guidance.
The club wants to use social media platforms and OrgSync as well as hanging posters across campus as a way of reaching out.
Vice President of the club Verenice Ulloa said, “Since we are just getting started, not a lot of people know about us, not a lot of people want to say that they’re hungry even though they are.
We are still trying to take statistics on how many people need food and how many people suffer from hunger. We are trying to make students here on campus aware.”
