Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 3/12/08 Section: News

Martha's Kitchen volunteer Harold Careway hands out trays of prepared food to a homeless person on Tuesday afternoon.

Volunteering at soup kitchens inspired Erik Johnson, a junior biology major, to arrange an event for SJSU students to partake in feeding the homeless and the poor in San Jose. He collaborated with Jenny Ginorio, a young adult minister at the SJSU Catholic Campus Ministry, to organize the event that took place Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at Martha's Kitchen on Willow Street.

"I volunteered there one time before, and I liked it," Johnson said, "I thought it was good to help the poor and the needy."

Together Johnson and Ginorio distributed 90 fliers at the residence halls and an additional 300 around campus. They had also tried to advertise for the event through other venues such as MySpace, Facebook and e-mail blasts.

"We were really hoping that the Martha's Kitchen event would really be successful," Ginorio said.

The event, however, turned out to be short of volunteers with only Johnson and Ginorio showing up to help.

"Maybe it was just the timing of the event," Ginorio said.

Johnson said he still hopes to have an event at least once a month or maybe even more often.

Some students said they hadn't heard of the event.

"If my schedule permitted, and I didn't have anything else to do, I would definitely do it," said Esmeralda Mendoza, a junior civil engineering major.

Saif Akhtar, a junior mechanical engineering major, said he would volunteer depending on his class and work schedules.

"One suggestion would be to try to get more fraternities and sororities involved," he said. "I'm personally in a fraternity, and we are always looking for opportunities like that."

Martha's Kitchen is a soup kitchen that has been feeding the poor and homeless since 1981. Executive Director Edita Cruz has been working at Martha's Kitchen for eight years after getting laid off.

"It really feels good to be able to give back to the community," she said, "I was a product of the high-tech boom and was also a victim of the economic bust, but this opportunity came when I was laid off from my last job."

Cruz said that many volunteers show up from different groups, but that the "young people are very enthusiastic in being able to help people."

Martha's Kitchen is volunteer-based, having five staff preparing 160,000 meals a year feeding about 35,000 people, she said.

"The food is great," said Joe Luis, 57, who has been coming twice a week since 1986.

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