Spreading GROW Message with Ra Ra Riot!

by Brittany Collins, Oxfam America Community Engagement Intern

                Chilling with rock stars while saving the world—aka, just another day at my internship.  On Friday August 12, I had my first Oxfam America concert volunteering opportunity.  Ra Ra Riot, Jack's Mannequin, and Guster partnered with Reverb, a non-profit based in Portland, Maine that strives to make concert tours as environmentally friendly as possible, for their summer tour.  In turn, Reverb invited Oxfam America to table at their shows.  My favorite part of the Reverb concert experience?  Two words: free water.  Not being forced to pay five bucks for a bottle of water when you already have your own reusable, eco-friendly water bottle is, to borrow from Maine’s state motto, the way life should be.  I was also very encouraged to hear that a good number of the concert-goers had participated in the ride-share program to arrive to the show. 

                We tabled alongside Climate Counts, a non-profit that assigns scores to companies across the globe on their climate impact in an effort to encourage consumers to be conscious and make informed purchases as well as to urge the companies themselves to be environmentally responsible.  With such environmentally-friendly people surrounding us, Oxfam America was excited to bring an international perspective to the table (pun intended). 

                Oxfam America’s Senior Advisor of Music Outreach, Bob Ferguson, held down our table while my friend, Oxfam America volunteer Delia Harrington, and I canvassed the crowd informing concert-goers about global food injustice and specifically the Herger-Crowley Ethanol Subsidy Repeal Act (HR 2307) that Oxfam America supports.  We collected 120 petition signatures in support of HR 2307 (show your support by signing the online petition!).  We were thrilled to see that most people were very receptive to the GROW campaign as a whole and supportive of ending tax credits and subsidies to the corn ethanol industry.  Many were unaware that diverting cropland to ethanol production is one major cause of rising food prices that are putting basic food staples out of reach for the world’s poorest people.

Volunteer Delia Harrington and Community Engagement Intern Brittany Collins 
with Ra Ra Riot at the Oxfam America booth

                The highlight of the night (barely edging out our giving a pair of Guster Meet and Greet passes to two incredibly appreciative diehard Guster fans/Oxfam supporters) was hosting dedicated Oxfam supporters Ra Ra Riot at our table for an autograph signing.  Fans lined up and inquired about Oxfam while waiting for their chance to chat with Ra Ra.  It’s great to have an awesome band like them on board with us-- we immensely appreciate their support and are excited to continue working with them in the future! 

                Ra Ra Riot, Jack’s Mannequin, and Guster all put on excellent shows, and the night was capped off with a hilarious surprise appearance by “Saturday Night Live” star Will Forte, who performed a unique rendition of Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is” with Guster.  All in all, an amazing evening of spreading Oxfam’s message and experiencing great performances!  

Inspiring Action at the Core of CHANGE

by Caitlin DiMaina, Oxfam America Community Engagement Intern

     I stood behind a table covered in Oxfam Action Corps and GROW materials, munching on some sweet barbeque at dusk on a Sunday in July at Eastern Nazarene College, just south of Boston in Quincy, MA. Sprawled over picnic tables, benches, and the grass were over 60 people, including a group of 50 college students; Oxfam America staff and interns, and facilitators for the CHANGE Initiative 2011. This is the highly competitive national student leadership program that trains college students to become actively engaged with Oxfam America’s work. Its goals: to broaden perspectives, inspire action, and shape a new generation of global citizens.

Tabling for new 2011 CHANGE leaders at the barbecue. 

     From my vantage point behind the table about Action Corps grassroots organizing, it was a fantastic view. I saw passionate college students engaging in stimulating conversation about world issues such as extractive industries and food justice, the grassroots growing before my eyes. Dreams to create change were bubbling up and over, flooding into solid ideas for action on college campuses across the U.S.

     The Oxfam Action Corps together with CHANGE Leaders make the perfect combination to build our constituency and reach out to youth and adults alike. From taking political action by advocating for Oxfam’s campaigns to members of Congress, to organizing tabling at concerts and holding awareness events on campus, these two groups help Oxfam cast a wide net to not only garner support, but also encourage others to ACT FAST and live Oxfam’s mission.

     This week our goal is to get these two groups of activists connected and talking. We’re making some introductions via email and can’t wait to see the new additions to our ‘Oxfamily’ begin to work together to end poverty and injustice.  

For your reference, below is the list of the colleges and universities of the 2011CHANGE Leaders; for the Oxfam Action Corps cities, please see the left sidebar on this blog for a list linked to each city's own blog or Facebook.

                                                                                         

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Loyola University Maryland

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Macalester College

Elon University

University of Vermont

St. Michael's College

University of South Florida

Buena Vista University

University of Iowa

University of Idaho

DePaul University

Northwestern University

Indiana University

Washburn University

Berea College

Union College

Tulane University

Loyola Marymount University

University of California Santa Cruz

University of Southern California

Wesleyan University

Boston University

Northeastern University

Smith College

SUNY Stoney Brook

The New School

Samford University

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Arizona State University

American University

Georgetown University

North Dakota State University

University of New Hampshire

The College of William and Mary

Virginia Tech

West Virginia Wesleyan College

University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Rider University

Bucknell University

Delaware Valley College

Villanova University

University of Tennessee-Knoxville

University of Texas, Austin

University of Wyoming

University of New Mexico

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

John Carroll University

Ohio University

Ohio State University