Students at USU take ‘steps’ toward ending poverty
Students Together Ending Poverty is a club on campus devoted to serving and helping others in a time of need.
According to their Web site, STEP works to alleviate hunger and homelessness in the state of Utah and completes projects to aid people around the world suffering from poverty. Being a member of the club requires five to 10 hours per week during projects and one regular meeting per week.
The club is involved in different events associated with poverty, co-director of STEP Ben Szilagyi said.
The club’s most recent endeavor was a food drive. They went trick-or-treating for cans, asking for canned-food donations for those in need.
Caroline Jones, a junior majoring in elementary education who works at the Val R. Christensen Service Center, said trick-or-treating for cans was a lot of fun. “We went around from house to house collecting cans. If you come up [to the Service Center], there are bags everywhere. It’s cool to see how much people are willing to donate.”
Brooke Wiberg, co-director of STEP and junior in social work, said, “It’s amazing to see the community help out so much. They really pulled together to help out those who are in need.”
Szilagyi, a junior majoring in international studies, said the club’s major goal to help ease poverty – if not completely erasing it – is “idealistic.”
“We try to help to alleviate poverty locally and internationally,” he said.
Other events the club organizes are the Night on the Quad and Quilting on the Quad.
“Basically, we made quilts and sent them to inner-city kids in Cincinnati,” Szilagyi said.
“One of our goals is to go and personally deliver [the quilts] to a shelter to people who need them; to actually see the people benefit,” Wiberg said.
The Night on the Quad was canceled this fall because of weather but will be held again in the spring. It is an annual event where students spend a night on the Quad in cardboard boxes. The event was previously named “Homeless for a Night,” but was changed due to some controversy stemming from people feeling the event was degrading to the homeless.
“It’s a matter of how you are looking at things. We aren’t looking to marginalize what they are going through. We are looking to give those who have very little discomfort in their lives a taste of it. We are just trying to raise awareness the best way we know how, and that is by letting them have the experience. We try to make it very tasteful and educational.”
STEP consists of an eight-person committee that makes decisions about events as well as a volunteer list that includes more than 100 people. Those volunteers receive e-mails about events that are going to happen in the future.
“We usually have a pretty good turn out to all of our activities, but we can always use more help. We try to do a lot of advertising for our activities. We usually receive a lot of support,” Szilagyi said.
Wiberg said, “It’s really fun. I’ve learned how to plan an activity and carry it out and see how it can benefit other people. I see how it’s helping somebody. You get to know people and get to make a difference. Even if it’s a small difference, it’s helping out.”
“If anyone is interested, let us know and come participate in the activities. We always welcome volunteers. There’s something for everyone to do no matter what your interests or talents may be. You can never have too many volunteers,” Szilagyi said.
Anyone who is interested can call the service center at 797-SERV, go to servicecenter.usu.edu/step or go into the service center on the third floor of the TSC and look for Ben and Brooke’s office hours.
-hollyadams@cc.usu.edu