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College to Hold Third Annual Poverty Awareness Week
Events will focus on spiritual and material poverty

The College will hold its third Poverty Awareness Week from November 12-16. Events will include the week-long sale of Fair Trade coffee and crafts, a lecture, an evening of reflection, a poverty awareness concert, and opportunities for community service. All activities are free and open to the public.

The Fair Trade movement is committed to social justice by returning proceeds of product sales to workers who made them. Its coffee and crafts will be on sale from November 12-16 in the lobbies of Bachmann Main Building and the Abessinio Building. For specific times, see the schedule below. In addition, the main corridor of Bachmann will be outfitted with statistics and images about the plight of the world’s vulnerable throughout the week.

Mark Chmiel, Ph.D., the author of The Book of Mev, will deliver a lecture on Monday, November 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Schmidt Multipurpose Room. The book is the story of Mev Puleo, an American photojournalist and young Catholic who actively confronted a world of injustice, poverty and violence. From witnessing homelessness in the United States to struggles for social change in Haiti, El Salvador, and Brazil, Puleo used photography and interviews to be a bridge between poverty and affluence, the First World and the Third World. Her familiarity with suffering was dramatically intensified when she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor at the age of thirty-one and died twenty-one months later. Chmiel will also facilitate an evening of reflection entitled “Is Peace Possible” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 14, on the second floor of the Abessinio Building.

The Poverty Awareness concert is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 15, in the Life Center. Featured bands include Blue Sun, Original Sinz, Let Go Beautiful, and Recent Hours. There is no admission charge, but donations will be accepted at the door.

In addition, there are trips to St. Francis Inn on Tuesday, November 14, and Thursday, November 16, from 3:30-6 p.m. Volunteers will serve meals to the homeless who live on the streets of Kensington, near the soup kitchen. On Wednesday, November 15, at 11 a.m., students and community members are invited to participate in Sandwiches for Survival by making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches which are then delivered to Catholic Social Services in Chester. Those who are interested in volunteering should call 610-558-5339.

Neumann students started Poverty Awareness Week in 2004. The week has since grown into an annual event that remains largely student run. Activities will begin on Sunday, November 12, with Mass in the Sacred Heart Chapel, located in Bachmann Main Building, followed by:

Sunday, November 12
Fair Trade Coffee
Outside Sacred Heart Chapel
8 – 8:45 p.m.

Monday, November 13
Fair Trade Coffee and Crafts
Lobby of Bachmann Main Building
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Guest Speaker Mark Chmiel, Ph.D.
Schmidt Multipurpose Room, LLC I
7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, November 14
Fair Trade Coffee and Crafts
Lobby of Bachmann Main Building
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Rocco A. Abessinio Building
4 – 7:15 p.m.

St. Francis Inn
Kensington, Philadelphia
Meet in the Ministry Center (room 137 BMB)
3:30 – 6 p.m.

Evening of Reflection: Is Peace Possible
Rocco A. Abessinio Building, 2nd floor
7 p.m.

Wednesday, November 15
Fair Trade Coffee and Crafts
Lobby of Bachmann Main Building
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Rocco A. Abessinio Building
4 – 7:15 p.m.

Sandwiches for Survival
Life Center
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Bereavement Mass
Sacred Heart Chapel
7 p.m.

Poverty Awareness Concert
Life Center
8 – 11 p.m.

Thursday, November 16
Fair Trade Coffee and Crafts
Lobby of Bachmann Main Building
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Rocco A. Abessinio Building
4 – 7:15 p.m.

St. Francis Inn
Kensington, Philadelphia
Meet in the Ministry Center (room 137 BMB)
3:30 – 6 p.m.

11/10/06