Anti-hunger activists share tales at White Dog Cafe event

Although the White Dog Cafe sits right outside campus and sends out about 17,000 copies of its newsletter quarterly, many people are still unaware of its role as a promoter of social activism. The cafe even employs a full-time director of community programs, Sue Ellen Klein, who plans weekly events that bring social issues -- usually concerning inequality or economic injustice -- to a larger audience. Tuesday nights, for example, a program entitled "Tales in Tails" features personal and informal storytelling sessions of "real people telling their stories," giving a voice to people who are often marginalized in society, Klein explained. Last night's event, "Tales of Hunger," did just that, as two women who once experienced hunger told their stories alongside representatives from Philadelphia anti-hunger organizations. Area resident Patience Jacobs, who now works at the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank, described the issues she encountered trying to feed her two young children when she separated from her husband after 13 years of marriage "People don't believe people are hungry, but they are. I am a person who has been there," she said. She emphasized that hunger is a real issue and said she now "thanks God" for the opportunity to work for anti-hunger organizations. Debbie Winans also told of her experience with hunger, living in a house with 13 people and having to strictly budget money and food supplies. Now, as a nutrition advisor for the Penn State Cooperative Extension, she teaches young mothers how to purchase nutritious food and cook it more efficiently. Karen Wilson, coordinator of the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, noted that there are ways to "empower all citizens to be able to acquire food for themselves." Philabundance -- an organization that distributes leftover and surplus food from 300 restaurants and businesses -- brought the group information on aiding the hungry through donations. Scott Schaffer, the organization's executive director, explained that hunger is detrimental to a person's physical health and mental well-being, and has also been shown to cause crime and abuse. He added that the "ultimate irony is that the wealthiest country has had steadily increasing hunger over the past few years," stressing that resources are available to end the plight.