Fall 2017 - Winter 2018 MSU School of Social Work Newsletter MSU-Social-Work-2017-2018-Newsletter | Page 15

B
ASW and MSW graduate Adriana Flores wanted to make a
difference in her community. Initially, she wanted to install a
Little Free Pantry, which is a variation of the Little Free Library
created by Jessica McClard of Arkansas. The goal is to alleviate local food
insecurities in high poverty neighborhoods.
After some research, Flores learned that people who qualify for
public assistance are not allowed to purchase hygiene products with the
assistance funds. This includes tampons, pads, soap, shampoo, toothpaste,
etc. This led to Flores’ pantry version called the E² | Empathy and Equity
| Box, which instead of books or food, stocks these personal care items. “It
provides anonymity to those who need products,” she said, “And my hope
is it will be a way to unify the community residents, outside community
members, organizations, and institutions.”
According to Flores, the name E² | Empathy and Equity | Box was
chosen because: “Equality is giving the same of something to benefit
everyone, yet this is done with the assumption that everyone is at the same
place. Equity is giving people what they need to be at the same starting
point. Sympathy is feeling for someone. Empathy is feeling with someone.
This does not mean that the experiences are the same, rather there is an
understanding of the feeling the person notes.”
Flores began contacting various organizations, and a low-income
apartment complex thought this met a need and chose to pilot the
first box. Craig Hiner created the box, and Adriana’s husband, Hector
Fajardo, installed the first box on August 12 at Edgewood Village in
Meridian Township. A second box was recently installed at the East
Lansing Capital Area District Library.
Flores said, “My hope is it will make a difference in someone’s life, so
they know they are OK and people do care.”
To learn more about
the E² | Empathy and
Equity | Box project, visit
esquaredbox.weebly.
com or on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/
esquaredbox/.
School of Social
Work news when,
where, and how
you want it
T
he MSU School of Social Work is
expanding its social media presence
in order to reach more people with
more relevant information in less time. We
are expanding not just our content, but
the places where you can be connected to
that content. More of our faculty will be
involved in posting content as our online
presence grows.
The School will be posting upcoming
events, such as continuing education
offerings, guest lectures, and special
advocacy opportunities. When there is a
need to widely disseminate information,
such as with responses to the Flint water
crisis or announcing a new program,
social media is the most effective way to
keep people up to date or steer them to
pertinent information on our website.
Currently, our Facebook fans exceed 2,500,
Twitter followers are over 1,600, and both
are growing every month.
Our Facebook content has been
reorganized onto one main School site, and
Continuing Education and the Community
Programs (see pp. 8–10) also have their own
Facebook sites. The School and the FAME
Program also have Instagram and Twitter
accounts. It is our intent to expand content
on all of these media sites. We hope to “see”
you all online!
Adriana Flores pays
it forward, provides
personal care items
for those in need
On Facebook look for:
MSUSocialWork
MSUVSW
MIKinship
MSUSocialWorkContinuingEducation
MSUChanceatChildhood
MSUFAME
On Instagram look for:
MSU_SocialWork
MSU_FAME
On LinkedIn look in “groups”
for:
MSU School of Social Work
On Twitter look for:
MSUSocialWork
MSUFAME
Fall 2017/Winter 2018 SSW NEWS
15