Tactic: Tabling; March 4th

Carlos Bazante

Soc. Movements

Tactic: Tabling; March 4^th

 

On March 4^th our group (A Helping Hand for the Hungry) along with other groups set up a table on the free speech area to publicize our topic (hunger/food insecurity).  Our group had poster boards, flyers, and picket signs.  The poster boards offered statistical data findings on hunger and food insecurity in Fresno and across the United States.  We offered data that compared Fresno's average and the national average of hunger.  This allowed students who were passing by to see the severity of hunger and food insecurity in Fresno County.   As a group, we tried to lure people on campus into our table. We live in high-paced society, which explains why many people are on a constant hurry. I found out how hard it is to approach students and to get them to listen to my cause for a short period of time. 

I found myself overwhelmed after trying to explain my cause in less than one minute (most students were in a hurry to get to class).  Though trying to explain my cause to students I found many of students were interested in our topic (hunger/food insecurity).  Although the majority of students I talked to had little time to spare there were some students that stayed for a longer period of time to discuss this social issue.  These small number of students wanted to learn more and asked several questions which led to many depending factors of hunger and food insecurity.  Some stayed longer to discuss the economic factor that plays a significant role in this issue.  A student named Gilbert had many great questions, which helped me touch up on other underlying factors of the issue such as the increase of cost of living and the inaccurate outdated poverty level.   The tabling experience was great and it helped me realize that there are many people who care about the issue the same way I do. However, I need to study my topic more deeply in order to answer the numerous questions I encountered.  As a group, we should have created larger poster signs to lure more students.  The tabling event was a great experience and in my opinion one of the most effective way of spreading awareness to any social issue.