Food Banks: Hunger's New Staple

Feeding America, the larger national organization that runs the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, has just released a study called "Food Banks: Hunger's New Staple." They found that more and more of their clients are using food assistance as the "new normal."

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Volunteer to be a tax counselor!

It's that time of year...time to recruit volunteers for tax season! We need students (and others) to help out the Ohio Benefit Bank by assisting clients in filing their taxes. Here's how it works:

1. You get trained in the software. You only need to be comfortable operating a computer. You do NOT need to be an expert in taxes--we'll teach you what you need to know and provide resources for any questions that might arise. Training consists of a one-hour e-learning course completed at your convenience and a 3-hour in-person training. We will be holding weekday morning trainings in December and January, and a Saturday morning training in early February.

2. Once you're trained, we need help with our tax clinics! We are holding 5 tax clinics on Saturdays from late January to late March. At a tax clinic, several counselors gather at Oberlin Community Services and each one sees approximately 4-5 client appointments in a day. We provide lunch and a fun time.

3. There are even more opportunities to help aside from tax clinics. We will need counselors to work during walk-in hours or meet with clients who are unable to attend the tax clinics. This will frequently be on a weekday evening.

Does this sound like something you want to do? E-mail Anna (anna.brown@oberlin.edu) to sign up for a training! If you're interested in working on this as a Winter Term project, let me know!

'Tis the season...

to start looking at your Winter Term options! Do you want to do service, an internship, research, create something? Should you stay in snowy Oberlin, go somewhere tropical, make your parents happy by going home to visit them?

When I entered Oberlin as a first-year, I made a vague plan for my four Winter Terms (one on campus, one at home, one abroad, and one TBD adventure)--and followed through with it!

• My first year, I lived with my parents in Maryland and interned in a Dennis Kucinich's office on Capitol Hill.
• My second year, I stayed on campus and independently researched the Israel-Palestine conflict (after my attempted abroad trip to teach environmental sustainability on a kibbutz in Israel was canceled three days before departure due to political instability)
• My third year, I was studying abroad in Morocco for the spring semester and the program started in early January so I couldn't even fit in a half-credit project (but it was OK, I was in sunny, warm Morocco)
• My fourth year, I WWOOFed on a horse farm in central France that specialized in endurance racing and breeding Arabian horses, and then traveled a bit through Europe on my own.
• This year, as the BCSL AmeriCorps*VISTA, I'll be supervising my very own Winter Term interns here on campus!

Want to have your very own Winter Term adventure? Here are some resources to get you started:

Apply for internships from all corners of the country on ObieOpps - the deadline to apply is Nov. 7!

Read the procedure for setting up an international project

Consider staying in Lorain County to work with the BCSL or its Community Partners!

Check out last year's group projects for inspiration (this year's projects will be posted October 24!)

Lots more resources at the WT page!

Good luck and don't forget to let the BCSL know what cool things you end up doing!