New women's group debuts

Members of a new Penn women's group made their community debut this weekend, volunteering at a local homeless shelter and learning about a way of life quite different from their own.

The group -- Women in Thought -- is currently the only undergraduate group dedicated to creating social and political awareness of women's issues through community service and discussion.

"The purpose is to get a feeling for women living in circumstances that are not your own," College senior and Women in Thought Co-President Lisa Pettinati said.

Although Women in Thought was conceived by Pettinati and College senior Helen Kim last year, this is the first semester where the group has had an active curriculum. Each month, the group focuses on a particular women's issue by visiting a relevant site and discussing the experience.

This Saturday, WIT members traveled to the Eliza-Shirley Women's Homeless Shelter -- a temporary housing facility that has the capacity to serve 140 women and children each day.

Participants toured the facility and spoke with employees who explained many of the issues facing their residents. The students heard about problems like drug addiction, physical abuse and mental illness that often drive women to the shelter.

"A lot of us who work here have a lot of compassion for the people who walk through the door because we know that that could be us -- that is us," staff member Dawn Gregor explained.

After that brief introduction, WIT members split up and dug in.

Some worked in the basement kitchen, sporting hairnets and plastic aprons. They chopped onions, rinsed tuna fish and restocked shelves before serving the lunchtime crowd.

Others entertained children in a small playroom upstairs. They pulled kids around in toy cars and helped one child build a house out of giant Legos and plastic mats.

Meanwhile, the volunteers spoke with a range of residents and employees -- one woman who used the shelter as a place to get clean, another who had fled from her abusive partner.

At the end of the day, the volunteers returned to campus exhausted but satisfied with their experience.

"It was like a hard-core reality check," College freshman Stephanie Gantman said. "This is very real."

And that is what the group is all about -- seeing women's issues first-hand and trying to do things to address them.

"We're not just discussing," Nursing freshman Jessica Zuino said. "We're actually going out there and doing stuff."

For some, the educational aspects of the group are the main attraction.

"You get to see a lot of different things that you would never get to see," Zuino said. "People get sheltered and they don't realize that there are things going on outside of their little bubble."

Others are attracted to the group by the community service element.

"It's an easy way to make a difference," College freshman Morgan Whitmire said.

She later added, "The women at Penn are well-educated and assertive, and you would think that more people would be interested in maintaining what's been gained."

WIT participants said they do hope to expand the group's membership in the future. They continue to reach out to everyone they can -- men included.

"More people should take advantage of it," Whitmire said.

And although this weekend the group focused on homelessness, WIT also plans to address other topics in coming months. Future issues include eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, breast cancer and gender equity.

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