Calendar helps raise hunger awareness, one month at a time

Desarae Nawras worked on the design of the 2007
Haven from Hunger calendar. Nawras is a senior
studying sociology at EOU.

LA GRANDE, Oregon – For the next 12 months each page turned in a new calendar will signify a growing awareness of the problems of hunger and food insecurity.

The 2007 calendar is a product of Eastern Oregon University’s Haven from Hunger project and features the artwork of students in K-12 schools in La Grande.

Spearheaded by Bill Grigsby, assistant professor of sociology and students in his upper-level social welfare class, the calendar was designed by EOU senior Desarae Nawras with the assistance of Karyl Kramer, EOU’s graphic artist. Artwork in the calendar was selected from approximately 50 entries reviewed by a panel of judges.

Panel members included Nawras, Olivia Slippy, master’s student at EOU, C.W. Dunbar, Kathleen Cathey and Angela Bohnam, Oregon State University extension faculty member at EOU.

“We had a lot of really outstanding art,” Nawras said. “The kids really took a lot of time on this.”

Last winter the principals and teachers at La Grande High School, La Grande Middle School and Central Elementary School agreed to participate in the project, which tries to integrate hunger awareness and household food insecurity into the schools’ curriculum. A drawing contest generated the artwork for the calendar.

Maria Alondra Camacho, grade 2.

“For us the calendar not only helps to raise awareness of the problems of hunger and food insecurity in the community, it also helps us establish relationships with area schools and businesses,” Grigsby said.

“The enriched curriculum is about food awareness and appreciation through art. We want to work with schools to elevate the profile of these issues,” he said.

A Civic Solutions grant from Campus Compact of Oregon provided major funding for the production of the calendar. All proceeds from sales will help build the sustainability of the project.

                   Artist unknown, LHS.

“I’d like to see this become an event that children and teachers from all the schools in the valley will be excited about and look forward to every year, and one that local businesses and the community are willing to support,” Grigsby said.

Nawras, who is majoring in sociology, knew right away that she wanted to get involved with the calendar. She estimates she spent close to 80 hours working on the project – and the St. Helens native said she did it simply because she wanted to help out in the local community.

“It was a good experience. I’d do it again,” she said. 

Copies of the Haven from Hunger calendar are currently available for purchase for $13 at Sunflower Books, Marie Josephine’s, Kneads Bakery and the Union County Chamber of Commerce.  For more information call Grigsby at 962-3591.

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