Spare Change News

Author: Melanie Temin Mendez

  • Bake Sale at City Hall for Boston Public Schools

    BOSTON, Mass.—The Boston Public School system is facing a $61 million deficit next year due to cuts in state and federal funding, cost increases and enrollment miscalculations. On April 8, a group of parents showed up to raise money and awareness for this issue by turning to an age-old fundraising technique: a bake sale. While…

  • St. Patrick’s Day Peace Parade Offers Alternative for Anti-War, LGBTQ Groups

    SOUTH BOSTON, Mass.—For the fourth year in a row, a second, smaller parade wound through the streets of South Boston behind the marchers in the historic St. Patrick’s Day parade, which is organized by the South Boston Allied War Veterans’ Council. The  St. Patrick’s Day Peace Parade is organized by Veterans for Peace and Massachusetts…

  • Cookie Day Brings Sweets, Demands for Housing Funds to the State House

    BOSTON, Mass.—On February 24, Homes for Families, a Boston-based housing advocacy group, and its supporters again filled the grand stairway of the State House with cries of “Housing” during its ninth annual Cookie Day event. The event brought attention to cuts in state housing funds and honored local legislators who have worked to help homeless…

  • Paul Sullivan, Leadership Development Program Graduate

    BOSTON, Massachusetts—Paul Sullivan looks normal. If you passed him on the street, you would never guess that he has been homeless, much less nearly dead from serious illness. His story serves as a powerful reminder of the forces that lead many into homelessness in this country, as well as the fact that “normal” people become…

  • Learning English and U.S. Culture Through Service and Social Justice Education

    Foreign students who come to the United States for college often need to improve their English skills and learn more about U.S. culture. Julie Miller’s students are doing just that. They learn through service, as they venture beyond their Northeastern University classroom to volunteer at several sites around Boston. The academic course, entitled “Global Experience,”…

  • Prison Book Program Drive

    A few steps away from where John and John Quincy Adams are spending their eternal rest with their respective spouses, a hive of activity takes place in order to get books into the hands of prisoners across the country. This is the mission of the Prison Book Program, in service to the incarcerated for over…

  • Breaking the Silence of Extreme Poverty

    The Center for Social Policy at UMass, the International Fourth World Foundation, Project Serve, and UMass Boston’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion cosponsored a conference at UMass on March 12. The conference featured several co-authors of a recently published book, Not Meant to Live Like This: Weathering the Storm of Our Lives in New Orleans.…

  • Brother Blue Honored at Cambridge Public Library

    A familiar sight in Cambridge for decades, Brother Blue is gone now but not forgotten. Before his death in 2009, the local storyteller, who was the Official Storyteller of both Cambridge and Boston, could be spotted all around Cambridge in his trademark blue beret and clothing, always adorned with butterfly pins and pendants. On March…

  • Legislative Day of Action for the Homeless

    On February 27th, a large group of concerned citizens met at the State House to ask the State Legislature to protect families by increasing funding for housing and protecting safety net programs. The day was also meant to focus attention on the need to protect programs designed to help homeless youth under the age of…

  • Souper Bowl V Serves Up Fun and Funds

    A freezing rain fell from dreary February skies, but inside the Haley House Café, the mood was bright and cheerful as fans of local cuisine gathered for the fifth annual Souper Bowl. The yearly event is a fundraiser for the Haley House soup kitchen. The Souper Bowl is an all-you-can-eat soup buffet, in which guests…