The Beacon Oct. 29, 2019

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Vol. XVIII No. 4 Review p ovie g.

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Issue Date 10|29|19

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The Captain’s Cupboard's Sixth Year and Counting

by Jason Rogers, BSW Intern

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he Captain’s Cupboard will celebrate six years of operations next month. Located on Southern Maine Community College’s South Portland campus, the Captain’s Cupboard provides students access to food and other resources that assist them in meeting their basic needs. In 2013, students in the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society partnered with SMCC faculty to open the Captain’s Cupboard. The opening of the Cupboard was a response to research that showed 31.5% of students at SMCC did not have reliable access to nutritious food. This number is consistent with findings on college campuses across the country. According to recent studies, between 30-50% of college students experience some level of food insecurity. Food insecurity is linked with chronic physical and mental health conditions, poor academic performance and increased financial aid debt amongst college students. The goal of the Captain’s Cup-

board is to eliminate food insecurity and support student success here at SMCC. This goal can only be achieved if students are made aware of the Cupboard’s existence and the services it provides. Since the Cupboard’s inception, volunteers and board members have consistently thought of ways to improve outreach to students while providing them with reliable access to nutritious food. These volunteers and board members change with the passing of each academic year, but the mission of the Cupboard continues to attract the involvement of new students. With these new volunteers come new ideas for future projects. Recently, several culinary students have started putting together bags of common ingredients found in the Cupboard, along with recipe cards. These bags will be distributed to several faculty members to give to students

State of the Debates

by Chris Hedgpeth

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s we pass the fourth Democratic debate for the 2020 presidential election, the field is beginning to winnow. After starting with a 20-something candidate field in June, we’re approaching the fifth debate in November with only nine qualifying contenders (a few more may qualify before then). A month after that, the sixth debate will begin to have much stricter requirements. To qualify in December, candidates will need to poll at 4% in four national or early-state polls or 6% in two early-state polls and reach 200,000 unique donors by December 12th. The four early states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina) hold their primaries in February, setting the tone for the rest of the nation. Lots of changes have happened in the past few weeks. Investment banker and billionaire Tom Steyer, who began running in July, appeared in his first debate on October 15th. Steyer has spent six

times more on advertisements than all the other Democratic candidates combined, totalling about $26 million. This is about a quarter of the $100 million he expects to spend of his personal funds before the 2020 election is over. Less than 5% of Steyer’s campaign funding came from small donors, compared to Andrew Yang’s 68%, Bernie Sanders’ 58%, and Elizabeth Warren’s 53%. During a podcast interview airing on October 17th, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (not in the race) made some disparaging comments about U.S. Representative and Hawaii National Guard Major Tulsi Gabbard. Clinton suggested Gabbard was being groomed by Russia to interfere with the 2020 election, implying Rep. Gabbard would run on a third party ticket to spoil the election for Democrats. Tulsi fired back in a series of tweets, criticizing Clinton for her involvement in the war in Iraq, referring to Hillary as the “queen of warmongers”. Clinton was one of 29 Democratic senators (including

"Steyer has spent six times more on advertisements than all the other Democratic candidates combined..."

along with information about the Captain’s Cupboard. These bags are just one way that the Board hopes to increase awareness about the services the Cupboard provides. The Cupboard has also been planning to open a welcome center that will provide a place for students to drink a cup of coffee and study. Board members and past volunteers have worked tirelessly to secure funds to equip this space with a Keurig machine, and also hope to be able to offer pastries for a quick snack from time to time. The Captain’s Cupboard is also always looking for new ways to reduce food waste on campus and in the community. Volunteers and board members have worked to continue the cupboard’s tradition of food recovery by offering leftover meals that are prepared weekly by culinary arts stu-

dents. The cupboard has also partnered with local businesses to offer day old bagels and bread, and is planning to expand food recovery to the dining hall. In addition, all food that is no longer safe for the Cupboard to distribute is composted through Garbage to Garden. Garbage to Garden in turn supplies compost to farmers and gardeners throughout Maine. With all the new projects the volunteers have been working on, the focus of the Captain’s Cupboard remains the same as it did when the doors first opened in 2013: to work hard to ameliorate food insecurity in the SMCC community. The Captain’s Cupboard is located in the Captain’s House at 126 McKernan Drive, South Portland, Maine. The Cupboard has recently increased hours on Tuesdays to be open until 3:00 pm. Please visit our Instagram and Facebook pages for frequent updates @captainscupboard.

Joe Biden) to vote for the authorization of military force in Iraq in 2003. Gabbard announced on October 25th that she will not seek another term in Congress, though she is continuing her presidential campaign. The Iowa Democratic Party is holding a massive Liberty and Justice Celebration on November 1st in Des Moines. A few hours prior to this event, candidate Andrew Yang is holding his own “Yangapalooza”, featuring a live perfor-

mance from Weezer and former Third Eye Blind guitarist Kevin Cadogan. Opening the event is Kyle Christensen, a musician who was recently forced to sell his musical equipment to pay for his mother’s cancer treatment. Kyle was chosen as one of the recipients of Yang’s Freedom Dividend UBI pilot program, where he will receive $1000 a month for the next year to improve his quality of continued on page 6

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTINA LEBEL

SMCC 2019 Halloween Dance

by Celina Simmons

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MCC students gathered to celebrate this year's spooky season at the 2019 Halloween Dance. Since last year's dance, Activities Committee got a new DJ and photobooth. In the top image: Alissa Ford and Mary-Ellen White, the latest addition to the Care Bears, working the sign-in table. Bottom image from left to right: Sarah Maxsimic, Wadad Ramy, and Hunter, looking like pretty kitties. (sorry Hunter, we never caught your last name) PHOTO COURTESY OF JADE DENSMORE


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