CULTURE

Real People and City Harvest!

Anum Afzaal shows our readers how to give from the heart and make a difference! Featured by the NY DAILY NEWS, we sat down with her and discussed her charitable contributions to City Harvest!

How old are you and where are you from? I’m 17 and live in Brooklyn, NY (specifically in the Sheepshead Bay area). Originally however I emigrated from Pakistan with my family when I was 7.

What made you join the Key Club? I joined Key Club for the same shallow reasons as my peers: for the service credits and for diversity in my college applications. However, after volunteering for a year with my school’s (Midwood High School) Key Club my attitude towards the club changed. One moment that comes to mind is when one of our advisor’s (Mark Grashow) told us about his USAF (U.S. Africa Children’s Fellowship) project that personally collects and delivers books, clothing, and various school supplies to schools in Africa (Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ghana). As a member, I was able to participate in something we’ve come to coin as “The Africa Project,” an event when large amounts of Key Clubbers help load the boxes of books and school supplies into containers that will be shipped to Africa. The Africa Project was one of the events that encouraged me to become more active in our Key Club which led me to decide to run for President in February of 2009. I have been President since then and will soon become immediate past president since I will be graduating in June.

What influenced your group’s decision to help with the food drive? Key Club is a student led organization so our own club is led by a cabinet of officers. When we first entered our positions our main goal was to have a diverse amount of projects for our members to participate in and to also increase member participation. Each month has its own unique theme. For example, in October we fundraise for Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF and the American Cancer Society while also participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Central Park. Since November is more Thanksgiving oriented, we decided to volunteer in various soup kitchens (For example: The Yorkville Common Pantry in Harlem and the Father’s Heart Ministries Soup Kitchen and Pantry in the Lower East Side) and to also conduct a can drive. After doing some research I found that conducting a can drive as part of the Daily News Readers Care to Feed the Hungry food drive would be the best choice since City Harvest makes it easy to run a food drive.

What were your expectations and did you meet your goals? The can drive that we conducted in November 2010 was our second can drive as a club. The previous year, in November 2009, we had collected over 400 pounds of food which went above and beyond over our 100 pound goal. In November 2010 we wanted to surpass the 400 pound mark and try to get 500 pounds. However, we were a little short on time so we didn’t expect to collect even 400 pounds. We decided to branch out the can drive and instead of just making it a Key Club can drive to also make it a school wide can drive. We contacted the faculty and staff of Midwood and asked them to encourage their students to donate canned food for the can drive in exchange of extra credit of some sort. When the can drive ended and City Harvest came to collect the packed boxes of cans we discovered that we had collected over 500 pounds of cans! I was very shocked but was proud of my members and schools for donating as much as they did. Where is the food distributed? This year the food drive collected over 1 million pounds of food for City Harvest, more food than ever before. City Harvest picked up all of the food and delivered it to programs that feed hungry New Yorkers such as the Yorkville Common Pantry, a food pantry in Harlem where Midwood Key Club has volunteered.

How important is it for young people to get involved with organizations that can help fight hunger? My generation has an awful reputation for being too self-involved and for being obsessed with technology. It is important for me to encourage my fellow peers to get involved in various organizations that support causes that they themselves are passionate about. City Harvest is a perfect organization that some teenagers can start with. City Harvest is one of the leading organizations that helps fight hunger in our city. The point is to start locally and then branch out one step at a time. One easy way someone can do that (ages 5 and up!) is by visiting the website www.freerice.com, a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Programme. Simply define a word and you have donated 10 grains of rice! By spending just five minutes on www.freerice.com, you can feed a person for five days. Do kids your age know the issues surrounding hunger in the US? When it comes to national issues I feel as if the youth of America is not aware of much and it isn’t our fault. Yes we are teenagers and we spend a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter however when we turn on the TV to watch the news we might as well be watching TMZ. The current state of media in America is appalling. The media pundits have taken over and they are wasting everyone’s time by arguing over what Bill O’Reilly said or what Rachel Maddow said. The national discourse of our country is now just a petty catfight between right and left wing extremists. Thus I don’t think the youth of America can do anything but turn to the internet for news on the latest issues plaguing our country and world.

What do you hope to accomplish in the future with the drive? This November I will no longer be the president of Midwood Key Club (since I will be graduating in June) but I hope for the next President to create more enthusiasm about the drive so that they can reach the 600 pound mark. A short term goal would be to increase by 100 pounds each year while a long term goal would be to reach 1,000 pounds.

What do you hope to be in the future? What are your aspirations? In university I plan to study East Asian Studies focusing on the Korean culture and language. My plans for a career are not 100% solid and change every week. Right now I want to either teach English in South Korea or become the next Tina Fey.

Any advice for kids that want to help and be involved but don’t know where to start? For anyone who is planning on starting a can drive they can visit the City Harvest website at www.cityharvest.org and take it from there. For anyone who wants to get more involved in their community I suggest googling local soup kitchens and pantries. For anyone who wants to take an initiative and help change the world for the better there is a lot you can do. They key is to find one, two, or three things you are most passionate about and then to focus your time on them. By just googling simple words like “Africa” “Hunger” “Education” you can find thousands of projects to donate your time and energy to. Your wallet is not the most important thing you can offer, you are.