Haiti Quake Relief Fund

When Phi Theta Kappa learned about everything that had happened in Haiti after the earthquake, our hearts were broken and we knew that it was our duty as PTK leaders to step up and do anything in our power to help those who suffered in Haiti.
We understood that the devastation in Haiti was massive, but we still wanted to do our part, as a united team, to lead a fundraiser in the effort around the world to aid Haiti.
We all did our part. Rene started to do some research about which international organization was better rated, with the guidance of PTK advisors who greatly supported this service project. We decided that Direct Relief organization was our best match for our fund. Next, our VP of publications, Jacqueline, made some wonderful flyers that were posted around campus and displayed in the screen savers of almost the entire library, learning center and administration building. Rene built 10 plastic donation boxes; some of them were not used because the Bookstore provide some fancy donation boxes which actually helped us collect more donations. The donations boxes that we used,were placed in specific areas by PTK students as this was a team effort.
We also sent a message calling on all PTK members and Officers, active and none-active, to support this cause which demanded the cooperation of all us. We also sent a message by our Canada College media or smccd email, to reach the entire general public of campus (all students and faculty). Our goal was to fundraise $500.
Furthermore, Nathalie one of our most new and active members lead another project to support the Haiti cause and also joined us in the fundraiser; this was a documentary. Finally, we left the donation boxes for the entire month of February. When the time came to collect the donations, we were short $50 to reach our goal. But Gabriela, one of our active members, persuaded the women soccer team at Canada, which she is part of, to help us reach our goal; Gabriella, the women’s soccer team and even their coach donated to help us reach our goal by donating a second time.
One of the greatest lessons we learned in this service project,(lead by the efforts of the entire chapter working as united team) was that we in Phi Theta Kappa: Beta Zeta Nu, set our own limits when it come to show leadership and compassion. Although this project took place at Canada, this was an international service project.
So we will send the money to Direct Relief which will use the money to purchase medical supplies and other needed items for Haiti.

Healthy Food Drive

During our summer planning meetings our chapter discussed which of the eleven topics to focus on for the Paradox of Affluence. Jacqueline Santa-Iglesias and Isaiah Roggow decided to focus on health: If America is so rich, why are we as a nation so sick and unhealthy? Jacqui and Isaiah discovered and researched the Global Alliance for Chronic Disease (GACD), and read the book The China Study. Jacqueline and Isaiah met repeatedly to discuss ideas of how to present this problem to the student body as a teaching tool. After much consideration and debate, they decided to hold a Healthy Food Drive on campus and also organize a volunteer outing to Second Harvest, a local food bank. Second Harvest is dedicated to distributing food to the needy of the Bay Area and in health education programs in keeping with the ‘teach a man to fish’ mentality.
We wanted this to be an all-campus effort; Isaiah met with his fellow presidents of Associated Students of Canada College (ASCC) and TRIO and formed a Food Drive Committee from members of all three student organizations.
Bins were set out, the food drive was promoted, and guidelines were set as to what ‘healthy food’ meant. This was also a social experiment for us to see just how responsive people would be to such a restriction such as ‘please only donate healthy food.’ We also wanted to see just what people thought was healthy, as the definition is not clearly defined and is subjective.
We also received support from our local community in downtown Redwood City. Ruhina Karmali, who works at The Daily Boost, a local coffee shop heard of our efforts and offered to help. She set out our bins and gave people a free cup of coffee if they donated a food item to the cause.
After two months of collection, we had gathered five bins of food, in which we distributed it to eight Canada students who qualified for FAFSA. All that was left was a half-bin of food, which was donated to Second Harvest.
People kept pretty well inside the guidelines and brought in nutritious and wholesome food, proving anecdotally that on the whole people in our socioeconomic strata know what healthy food entails. This brought us back to the original question of if we as a nation know the right thing to do is eat healthy foods, why don’t we do it?
We want to give a big "Thank You!" to the entire Food Drive Committee-all the students that got on board and helped out printing/posting flyers, putting out collection bins, and collecting the donated food.