A newly minted partnership between Chartwells, Heart for Monroe and the CCG - called Food for Thought - is ensuring that surplus food from our Dining Hall is making it into the homes of those who need it! Thanks to H4M’s leadership, every Thursday morning different churches will collect the surplus donated food and deliver it to seniors, kids, and families in our community – today was Shiloh Baptist Church’s turn to serve and they knocked it out of the park! A huge thank you to the fabulous Chartwell team led by District dietician and sustainability coordinator Bethany Mack, and CCG Ecological Coordinator Erika Niland for making this magic happen. Want to get involved? Just email c.wright@wingate.edu

Composting Collaborations!

Pre-consumer waste is being composted on campus. So far 50 lbs have been composted, which has been led by our CCG intern Chris Leonard. Our initiative for the spring semester is to have student food waste ambassadors to help with educating the campus on reducing food waste. If you want to get involved, email e.niland@wingate.edu.

Did you know that November 15 - 22 is Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week? We did! Here are some of the amazing things our community partners are doing to promote awareness and help our neighbors this month, organized in a showcase series created by our amazing NC Campus Compact Hunger Corps VISTA, Hannah Fraser!

A bit about her...

My name is Hannah Fraser, and I am the North Carolina Campus Compact HungerCorps Vista serving Union County. I work out of the Collaborative for the Common Good at Wingate University, and my job is to build capacity and infrastructure to support organizations that fight food insecurity. For this year’s Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, I wanted to showcase some of the organizations in our area that are doing great work in our community.

'Light it Up Monroe' Every Thursday night at the Chapel at Benton Heights

• 'King of the Courts' basketball
• Free clothes, shoes, and coats
• Free groceries & school supplies
• Reading buddies for kids
• Free coffee & hot food on site
• Prayers and fellowship
• Music
  

Student Internet Cafe at First Presbyterian Church

• With online learning due to Covid, Heart for Monroe has been providing high speed internet and meals to the students of the Union County Public School system who otherwise may not have access to reliable internet.
  

Chalk It Up to Love

• Providing teachers and staff throughout Union County Public Schools with free school & classroom supplies.

Heart for Monroe is dedicated to serving the community and building meaningful relationships that last.

For more information and updates, follow them on instagram @HeartforMonroe

Donate by visiting HeartforMonroe.com/donate

Common Heart adapted to community needs by providing

• five drive-thru food pantries a week
• delivery food pantry
• three weekly pantries at churches
• three pop-up pantries in neighborhoods
• senior food boxes

So far in 2020, nearly 14,500 individuals in our community have been served a total of 550,000 meals from Common Heart.

Common Heart is expanding their services to Marshville! In addition to their office in Indian Trail, they will have location in Marshville in order to serve more of our Union County neighbors. Stay tuned!

Great Turkey Countdown

• Common Heart delivers frozen turkeys with all the fixin’s to hundreds of local families in need. With the support of over 600 volunteers and donors, at least 1,500 families will be able to have their own Thanksgiving Feast this year!

Learn more about their services and how to get involved by visiting their website CommonHeart.org or find them on Instagram @common.heart

Donate to their Love In Action campaign by going to LoveInAction.CommonHeart.org

What they do:

• Housing Counseling for new homeowners, families that may be facing foreclosure, and pre-homeowners who may find themselves in a predatory loan situation. Counselors provide tools that assist clients in making informed decisions about their housing needs.
• They also assist families who may need repairs to their homes or help paying their down payment on a house.

East Village

• This sixty-five unit subdivision has homes with prices ranging from $129,000 to $159,000. Down payment assistance up to $32,000 is available to eligible families.
• There are also other opportunities for homeowners to receive financial support. Housing Counselors work with their clients find the best options for funding.

Learn more about their work and how to get involved by visiting them at 349 E Franklin St. Monroe, NC 28110 ~ 704-283-8804 or checking out their website: www.muccdc.com

Since COVID...

• Over 1,100 children and seniors were fed three days a week over the summer
• Monthly USDA food giveaways that feed over 125 families each month
• Emergency food pantry every Wednesday from 9-11am with prepackaged boxes that serves over 155 families a week
• After school program helping kids cope with new online style of learning
  

How you can help:

• Thanksgiving Basket Celebration - local churches, organizations, or families put a thanksgiving meal together and they are donated to families in need
• Volunteers on Mondays & Thursdays from 5-6:30
• Do you have experience writing grants? volunteer to write grants for a website and other necessary materials

Please email burnsvillelc@gmail.com or call 704-778-7478 H

Since COVID-19...

• The Community Shelter invited the Union County Health Department to tour their facility for a safety review due to Covid19. The results of the review were outstanding, and they implemented even more safety precautions to keep their clients, staff, and volunteers safe.
• Since March, the shelter has distributed more than 313,000 pounds of food - that's over 27,000 meals!
  
• They give the shelter residents free masks, hand sanitizer, and educational information on the coronavirus.
  

In order to help people get back on their feet, the shelter distributes gently-used furniture and household supplies to many residents who move into their own home after a temporary stay in their emergency shelter.

How you can help!

• Lists of food, household and other needed items are at www.UnionShelter.org/Needs/
• Donations can be brought to the “donations” door, accessed from the back parking lot, from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily with the exception of meal hours (8 a.m., noon and 6 p.m.)
• They depend on volunteers to support daily operations.

Visit www.UnionShelter.org/Volunteer/ for details on volunteer opportunities.

It's that time of year, again!

In the Collaborative for the Common Good (CCG), we are looking for energetic, innovative, and collaborative faculty and staff to work using the ‘power of we’ to improve lives in Eastern Union County.

Each semester, we will be offering three (3) apprenticeships for faculty/staff/administrators looking to incorporate the participatory process (service learning and community engagement) into a course, internship, or special project to foster knowledge democracy on and off campus. This can a new build or a project you have already started! All selected Apprentices will be eligible for stipends in both semesters ($400 per semester) and we hope that they will feel free to use other amenities of the CCG (iPads for focus groups; podcast equipment; books; beautiful shared workspaces; co-creative space for collaboration; etc…)

The major goal of a CCG service learning course or community engaged project is for students to build evidence-based solutions to real-world problems involving the triple bottom line: social, economic, and ecological well-being. Thus, apprenticeship courses/projects should ideally focus on:

1. Building students' knowledge about a particular content area

2. Engaging students in learning from and with our local communities

3. Bringing student awareness to the interplay between today and the future (an intergenerational approach)

What we learn in the classroom or in our work on campus is often generalizable, but the communities we work with are unique--and so are you! We have created this apprenticeship for faculty who are interested in contributing to the common good in unique ways while promoting their own personal and professional development. The apprenticeship will run for two consecutive semesters which will include the following activities:

• Semester 1: Planning

• Throughout the first semester, apprentices will participate in five (5) workshops led by CCG Coordinators focusing on Service Learning and High-Impact Practices; Community Engagement; Professional Development; Sustainability in Higher Education, and other related topics.

• Apprentices will build partnerships with community members to implement courses/projects in the following semester

• Apprentices will make sure that students and community stakeholders are part of planning the projects themselves and not just the implementation of the project

• All aspects must be completed to the satisfaction of the CCG Executive Board to be eligible for the semester stipend ($400)

• Semester 2: Implementation

• Apprentices will use CCG assessments to gauge the impact of service learning courses/projects/internships at the start and end of each semester and report on those outcomes

• Apprentices are able create their own assessment measures as well

• Apprentices will write at least one white paper (papers to be shared with the general public, university, and community partners) in collaboration with their students by the end of the semester

• All aspects of implementation must be completed to the satisfaction of the CCG Executive Board to be eligible for the semester stipend ($400)

To be considered for Apprenticeship status in the CCG, the project must meet the CCG Service Learning and Community Engagement Guidelines. Faculty and staff are expected to involve students and community partners in their entire process, making sure to assess and evaluate their experiences - and projects - throughout the process. More detailed expectations for apprentices are as follows:

• Submit a CCG Apprenticeship Application and Proposal. The application can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeZpVWZudTF2HkdmVmoHZ8vRQEndpoIOR42vqM2lasmxiiZw/viewform?usp=sf_link

• In the application you will be asked to attach the following:

• A current CV or resume

• An Apprenticeship Proposal, found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nMQmgHltYZ5WFWYa4T2T8BHMuUuoKIlouIa7R5fovck/edit?usp=sharing

The selection of CCG Apprentices will be made by the CCG Executive Board (CCG Director and Coordinators) in consultation with the Office of the Provost and CCG Advisory Board. Candidates will receive written notification of the outcome of their applications at least two (2) weeks in advance of the start of the semester. Candidates not selected are encouraged to reapply in future semesters as well as become involved with other CCG opportunities.

Should you have questions regarding the application or process, please contact us at ccg@wingate.edu

"This semester, I have been working on a plan to implement service learning in GPS 220: Global Perspectives in Politics and Economics. This will allow students to have a hands-on experience where they learn about the importance of these topics to their lives as they apply what they have learned about global issues by implementing local solutions." - Dr. Chelsea Kaufman, Assistant Professor of Political Science

"I am immensely grateful for the apprenticeship program and for the CCG. I have already learned so much about service learning as a high impact educational approach and its capacity to enhance a student's college experience, to increase retention, and to positively influence our community (both on and off campus) through meaningful, reciprocal service projects. I am excited not only to be constructing a service learning course with the guidance of the CCG team, but to be mentoring 5 student interns who are helping to identify community partners and contribute to the creative process as we seek to address real-life problems. I cannot think of a better way to increase my efficacy and develop myself as an educator and practitioner than by combining theory and practical application in this way." - Dr. Paige Rawson, Visiting Professor of Religion

Executive Director of Turning Point, an amazing non-profit organization focusing on helping victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and child abuse, Jessie Lindberg works tirelessly with her amazing team of providers to improve well-being of Union County residents. Through an extremely fun podcast recording (check it out below), we learned a bit about Jessie's superstar past, as well as the light she shines on our neighbors through her work.

For those unfamiliar with Turning Point, here's a little bit about what they do:

VISION STATEMENT

Turning Point’s vision is that all people will have safe and healthy relationships, free from domestic abuse, sexual assault, and child abuse in their homes, schools, workplaces, and communities.

MISSION STATEMENT

Turning Point exists to end domestic abuse, sexual assault, and child abuse through safe shelter, advocacy, prevention, and social change.

CORE VALUES

• Empowerment – Empower others to develop confidence and maximize their own capabilities.
• Service Excellence – Provide the best service to our clients, volunteers, donors, and our community by striving for excellence every day.
• Integrity – Always doing the right thing.
• Dignity & Respect – Treat all we encounter with dignity, value, honor, and respect.

Turning Point has a variety of programs with which to help clients:

• Hotline and crisis intervention services, available 24/7
• Transportation services
• Safe shelter
• Counseling, support groups, case management
• Victim's advocacy
• Early childhood and children's programs related to domestic violence (including HERO and LAP programs, as well as parenting classes)
• Teen dating violence prevention
• Transitional housing
• Community education

In addition, Turning Point runs...

• Second Chance Boutiques and Home Decor - “TURNING OUR COMMUNITY AWAY FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, AND CHILD ABUSE” Upscale thrift stores and home decor store with a comfortable and friendly shopping atmosphere. They offer a treasure trove of items. Clothing for all ages, household items, even furniture. These stores combine an upscale thrift store with a designer boutique to create a different type of shopping experience. All three stores offer high quality items at thrift store prices. Visit the store here: https://turningpointnc.org/boutique-home-decor/

  
  

• Tree House Children's Advocacy Center - A Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) is about teamwork – bringing the agency professionals involved in a child abuse case together on the front end – and about putting the needs of the child victim first. So rather than having a child taken from agency to agency throughout the law enforcement and child protection systems, and having to endure multiple, sequential interviews, the CAC model brings the system to the child, and brings the agency professionals together to work in a collaborative approach that results in effective, efficient and child-centered casework.

To learn more - or to get involved - check out all the amazing ways you can volunteer:

• Administration: Perform administrative duties as assigned by Turning Point staff.
• Child Care: Offer constructive and age appropriate activities for the children.
• Facility Maintenance: Perform routine cleaning, lawn care, and repairs to shelter as needed.
• Receptionist: Responsible for answering the telephones and greeting all visitors, donors, staff, and clients.
• Companion: Provides accompaniment and/or advocacy for a crisis response to our hospitals and hotline for sexual assault/child sexual abuse victims.
• Food Services: Provide a nutritious meal for the clients.
• Event Planning: Helps plan events and fundraisers.
• Thrift Store/Donations: Offer customer service, manage inventory, and help with the display of clothing and accessories; help sort and receive donations and supervise clients in the donation building for shopping.
• Community Outreach: Educate the community about domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse, distributing Turning Point literature to local businesses, organizations and community events.

Or, coming soon...

Turning Point's Virtual Holiday Wish

Friday, November 20th at 7pm

(via Facebook/YouTube)

"Join us for an inspiring evening, featuring stories of survival and hope."

Learn more at: https://turningpointnc.org/events/

Learn more at their website: https://turningpointnc.org/ or by reaching out to Jennifer at jsanford@turntoday.net

Are you a victim of domestic violence or abuse?

Abuse can be emotional, physical, psychological, sexual, and/or financial.

Domestic violence or abuse is about one partner exerting power and control over the other.

Domestic violence or abuse isn’t simply about anger management or anger problems.

Does your partner ever...

• Accuse you of cheating or being disloyal?
• Make you feel worthless?
• Hurt you by hitting, choking, or kicking you?
• Intimidate and/or threaten you or someone you love?
• Threaten to hurt themselves if they don’t get what they want?
• Try to control what you do or who you see?
• Isolate you?
• Pressure or force you into unwanted sex?
• Control your access to money?
• Stalk you, including calling you constantly or following you?

If so...

You are NOT ALONE.

You are NOT TO BLAME.

You DO NOT DESERVE to be treated this way.

You have RIGHTS.

You can get HELP.

Turning Point's hotline number is 704-283-SAFE (7233).

Students in Dr. Candy Lapan's Adult and Aging Psychology course have partnered with the Ellen Fitzgerald Senior Center to learn about our local senior community and use the knowledge from the course to plan a service project. While still in the planning stages, one group will try to promote seniors social connection by teaching seniors more about technology that they can use to connect with friends and family. Another group will facilitate virtual meet and greet activities before regularly scheduled programming. Two other groups have partnered with the Council on Aging and are also working to help seniors connect with others via technology as well as hosting fitness sessions. Finally, another group of students is partnered with the Senior Nutrition Program and will be working to put together reading materials and activities that will accompany the seniors' meal deliveries.

Working with Turning Point, Dr. Lacey J. Ritter's Gender-Based Violence in Society W'Engage Course has begun their three service learning project builds:

• Turning Point This Way Day - a yearly fundraiser and awareness cause for Turning Point on Wingate's campus
• Creating clothing and goods drives on Wingate's campus, as well as around various Union County Public School locations for Turning Point clients
• Creating safe space/items for children suffering from domestic violence to help them feel safer while talking with police officers

In addition, these students will also host a Gender-Based Violence Lyceum to raise awareness of domestic violence at the university level near the end of the semester.

Dr. Cathy Wright is teaching an Honors section of GPS 310 - Global Perspectives in Ethics, and her 20 students are working with 5 amazing community partners on the following service projects:

1. Designing a student newsletter and feedback system with Chartwells
2. Remote clothing drive organization and efficiency/safety planning with Heart for Monroe
3. Food Council by-law creation and website design with VISTA and UC Food Council to promote education, advocacy, and networking in Union County
4. Creating Days of Campus Service with Carolina Equine Rescue and Assistance
5. Recruitment/educational support programs for Trinity Wellness Community Center mentoring program for local single parents & families

Please join the Collaborative for the Common Good for our CCG Series, workshops, Lyceums, and events on - and around - Wingate University to share what we do and how to get involved! This month, feel free to join us for:

• Mon., November 23d (3:30-4:30pm) A CCG Learning Series Panel featuring our Student Voices - learn what it's like to be a part of the CCG, Bulldog-style, at this Zoom link
  

And, finishing out our Fall 2002 semester, please join us for our two-part CCG Lyceum Series Fall Showcase celebration, where we show off the amazing work done by the CCG and our partners!

• Tues. December 1st (5:00-6:00pm) via this Zoom link
• Wed. December 2nd (12:00-1:00pm) via this Zoom link

Find all of our Against the Grain podcast episodes on iTunes and Spotify, or click the link for Apple Podcasts below!

Want to join us on an episode of Against the Grain? Sign up for a time that works for you at this link!

Unsure of how to start your own project? Want to join in on an already-running project? Reach out to us at the following link to complete our CCG Interest Form: https://forms.gle/7aqxTzqrhmEDr8Rp7

Want to learn more or join the CCG? There are various ways to get in touch with us - we would love to hear from you!

Email: ccg@wingate.edu
Website: https://www.wingate.edu/around-campus/common-good
Location: 102 West Wilson Street, Wingate, NC, USA
Phone: 7042338067
Facebook: facebook.com/CCGWingate
Twitter: @CCGWingate