By Lian Bunny
Assistant News Editor
BonaResponds, St. Bonaventure’s volunteer service organization, will be packing boxes of food on Saturday, March 22, with a goal of sending 100,000 meals to people in Haiti and the Philippines.
To reach their meal goal, the group needs to raise $22,000. Senior math major and BonaResponds member, Lilly Whelan, says they have to raise $15,500 to meet that threshold.
For the food-packing day, to be held in the Reilly Center, BonaResponds is partnering with a nonprofit organization called Feed My Starving Children.
Once BonaResponds raises the funds, Feed My Starving Children provides the supplies and food according to Whelan. Feed My Starving Children delivers the food and help set up on food packing day. The team will pack rice, riboflavin and soy protein the whole day. Feed My Starving Children will then ship the meals to Haiti and the Philippines, or wherever there is need for food.
BonaResponds is counting on the Bonaventure community to help. The group needs about 300 volunteers for food-packing day. Those interested can sign up at bonaresponds.org. Students, faculty and staff can sign up individually or in groups. Each shift is two hours long.
Another way to support the success of food packing day is to participate in “Art From the Heart” in the loft in the Regina A. Quick Arts Center for the Arts on Wednesday, March 19 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. This event is a silent auction where artwork from St. Bonaventure students and students from local Catholic elementary schools will be sold.
Elementary students from St. Bernard in Bradford, Pa., and St. Aloysius in Springville, N.Y., have been making collages reflecting the Franciscan tradition. The elementary students have been invited to the loft to see their artwork.
“The kids have worked very hard and I think it has been amazing to see their growth and their desire to help,” Whelan said. “I asked all the students why they chose to put a heart or a dove or a fish on their collage. One of the fourth grade girls said, ‘I chose to put a heart because it takes a lot of heart to donate.’”
Students, faculty and staff can support in this event in two ways: They can donate artwork or they can attend the event and possibly participate in the auction, according to Whelan.
Whelan said she hopes to have 80 pieces of artwork for “Art from the Heart.” So far, she has gathered about 60. Whelan also stressed that any form of art is acceptable to donate.
To attend the event, there will be a $2 donation fee to browse the artwork. This includes refreshments from local bakeries and performances from the Slam Poetry club. For the silent auction, she expects each art piece will sell for $5 to $10.
“For me, it’s a time of Lent,” Whelan said. “I don’t think it’s asking too much. All it would be is like don’t buy coffee at La Verna. Or skip out on pizza. It’s not that much. Each meal costs 22 cents to make. So you’re making about five meals for every dollar.”
BonaResponds has existed since 2006. Jim Mahar, professor of finance, is the faculty adviser for the group. Participants meet every Saturday at 10 a.m. and every Sunday at 11 a.m. behind the Murphy Professional Building.
Anyone interested in participating in BonaResponds can contact Lilly Whelan at whelanld10@bonaventure.edu or Taylor Phillips at phillite10@bonaventure.edu.
“I challenge people to come out for a weekend this spring,” Whelan said. “BonaResponds is probably one of the best organizations I’ve joined on campus because it’s not a commitment. You can come when you feel like it. I’ve just never seen people so grateful for the work that is done for them and it could be the littlest thing.”
bunnyla13@bonaventure.edu
