Home Away From Home potluck offers free food and supplies to students
A community potluck with free food and household supplies will be hosted at the D Street Neighborhood Center in Arcata, this Sunday, March 1. The potluck will begin at 5 p.m. with food being provided by community members, as well as local businesses, including Pupuseria San Miguel, a longtime food-donor for the potluck.
“We wanted to kind of simulate a feeling of welcoming and community,” said Home Away From Home committee member, Anne Hartline. “And that’s why we do, when we can, homecooked food, and the idea of people coming together and sitting down and having a meal together.”
The Home Away From Home event will be providing free bags of household goods to college students who provide proof of enrollment, including a student ID. Both the food and the goodie bags will be available while supplies last. There will also be a raffle for students who attend for a chance to win gift cards for local businesses, including Bubbles, Redwood Yogurt and Hey Juan Burritos.
Non-students are welcome to attend and are encouraged to bring either a store-bought or homemade dish along with serving utensils. Students are expected only to bring themselves, but may bring a dish to share if they would like.
The event stemmed from the Equity Arcata organization, which began in 2018 as a way to foster community among locals and CPH students from various backgrounds.
“Students, the community, and also staff and faculty, all got together and they thought of something they could do,” said Anna Martinez, a student fellow of Equity Arcata. “And so they created this partnership between Cal Poly Humboldt and the City of Arcata, which is Equity Arcata.”
Equity Arcata’s involvement with CPH includes facilitating a connection between our campus’s Oh SNAP! program, the North Coast Growers Association, and taking part in various campus events.
Wesley Chesbro, a longtime volunteer with Home Away From Home, says it is important to have a welcoming space, especially for students of color.
“All students are welcome,” Chesbro said. “In particular, we’re trying to reach students of color, predominantly Hispanic and African American students.”
Chesbro and Hartline hope the event brings people together and offers extra support to those struggling to find community.
“The concept from the beginning was wanting to send a message to college students in the community that we were glad they were here and that they were welcome,” Hartline said. “We wanted them to feel that this was a comfortable home for them.”
