For immediate release: November 14, 2008

BLOOMSBURG — Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania will host a number of activities for Homeless and Hunger Awareness Week from Nov. 16 to 21. All activities are free and open to the public.

On Monday, Nov. 17, Spectrum magazine is sponsoring the Northeast Pennsylvania Alliance Against Homelessness Clothing and Food Drive to kick off Homeless and Hunger Awareness Week. Each academic building on campus will have a green box near the lobby for donations. Boxes will also be set up around town. Toiletries, winter jackets, sheets, professional wear and boots are in great demand. Donations will be given to local shelters, including Reach in Wilkes-Barre, the Gatehouse in Danville and Beyond Violence in Berwick.

BU professor emeritus Gary Clark will speak about his street work with the homeless on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 1 p.m., in Carver Hall, Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium. Other guest speakers include William Bowlan, Kings College outreach director, and Stephanie Wolonick, director of Reach, a homeless shelter in Wilkes-Barre. Bowlan and Wolonick are both representatives from the Northeast Pennsylvania Alliance Against Homelessness.

The lecture will be followed by a roundtable dissusion with former and current members of the homeless community. The local homeless community and experts in the field will gather to discuss the issues facing the homeless in the surrounding area.

Bloomsburg University is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The university serves approximately 8,000 students, offering comprehensive programs of study in the colleges of Professional Studies, Business, Liberal Arts and Science and Technology.