UCHC honors eighth anniversary

Last night the University City Hospitality Coalition celebrated their eighth anniversary by feeding chicken, potatoes and birthday cake to about 130 homeless people. "We're a non-profit organization, but we did splurge on some cakes," Executive Director David Lynn said yesterday. According to Lynn, UCHC has served more than 200,000 meals since it was founded by students in 1984 when a homeless man froze to death on campus. UCHC provides hot meals every night for the homeless, using alternating church facilities as dining areas. In addition to meals, UCHC helps the homeless recieve welfare checks and find needed services. "We're more than just a soup kitchen," Lynn said Monday. "Once a week Penn Med students come and examine some of the homeless under the supervision of a doctor. Law students also come once a week to advise the homeless." UCHC is also helping the homeless to register and vote, according to Lynn. College and Engineering senior David Hafken came up with the idea after volunteering with UCHC for almost four years. "I think a lot of people feel that one person can't do anything, especially when they're on the street," Hafken said yesterday. "But I think the vote is very important, 200 or 300 people can really make a change." The homeless can use UCHC's address to register, Hafken said. UCHC tentatively plans to have a shuttle service on November 3, to provide transportation to the voting booths. "The important thing is to follow through," Hafken said. "We need to see that these people get to the voting places." The strongest force behind UCHC are volunteers both from the campus and from the community, according to Wharton senior Valleri Brandes, who has been involved with UCHC for four years. "[UCHC] is such a group effort. It isn't just a Penn organization," Brandes said. "The stabilizing factor is the community. Many students aren't available during midterms or during the summer." Many of the community volunteers, like Louis Henderson, once recieved assistance from UCHC. "They helped me a lot when I was down. They helped me get food stamps and [welfare] checks," she said. "They helped me get my nursing assistant license. Right now I'm in classes, but when I finish those, I'll start on the job training. [UCHC] helped me get back on my feet." Another community volunteer, James Lockett, has volunteered for UCHC for three years. He said that UCHC has helped him "tremendously." "I got on public assistance, became a volunteer, and registered to vote through them," Lockett said. He added that through UCHC he was able to help renovate an old building and set up affordable housing for himself and others. The problem of homelessness is very complicated, but Lynn said that he feels more small organizations like UCHC would really help ease the need. "There are a whole lot of causes and the solution [to homelessness] will be very complicated," Lynn said. "But in this small area of the city, we're feeding people and making sure they get the service they deserve and, hopefully, empowering them."