Ohio State Students Break Bread to Fight Poverty
The following is a guest blog post by Megan Colgan, a senior undergraduate student at Ohio State University and a former Opportunity intern:
Appetizers galore, tasty homemade meatloaf, a giant platter filled with an assortment of vibrantly colored roasted vegetables, scrumptious cookies and brownies, and more… Mouth watering yet? Mine sure was. I proudly looked at my dinner laid out across my long dining room table set for 15 of my good friends and fellow classmates at Ohio State University. My dinner party was one of many that occurred throughout the month of October for Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO)’s campaign Breaking Bread for Microfinance, all in honor of Poverty Eradication Day.
As I think back on the night, I’m filled with joy. Everything was superb: the food, the conversation, and best of all, the company. Without even being prompted, my Breaking Bread guests dove right into discussions about microfinance, poverty, and what can be done to help. All of my friends at the dinner are active members with me in the on-campus Business Builders Club (BBC). It was the perfect crowd for a night filled with laughter, intelligent conversation, and inspiring attitudes about what can be done to better our world.
A huge part of the BBC is social entrepreneurship, which is all about leveraging capital and using innovation to solve some of society’s most pressing issues— like poverty. (Contact BBC at [email protected].) Which is why this was the perfect guest list for a Breaking Bread dinner. Everyone there is passionately and actively engaged in projects that teach and involve others in the movement to alleviate poverty.
For example, the BBC is planning two exciting campaigns. The Alleviating Poverty through Entrepreneurship Summit (APTE) on April 15 will educate, impassion and empower individuals to alleviate poverty through market-based solutions on a local and global scale. By connecting students, educators, policy makers and community members, the summit will inspire and give attendees concrete channels of action to create positive social change, in cooperation with the networks of the Fisher College of Business and Net Impact, and bringing in students from all over the U.S. Second is Seeds 4 Social Change (S4SC), a BBC initiative that teaches students how to creatively invest and leverage their resources for positive social impact. In a series of five workshops supported by community members, successful social entrepreneurs and professors at Fisher, student participants will learn how to use their creativity, and identify resources and the needs in the community around them in order to make meaningful change through social entrepreneurship.
This is why a campaign like Breaking Bread is so great. Because people my age are already engaged and passionate about eradicating poverty through entrepreneurship, outreach and education–it’s the perfect event to share how Opportunity’s work in microfinance does just that.
To find out more about Breaking Bread, or to register your own dinner, visitopportunity.org/breakingbread.