The
COVID-19
pandemic
and
resulting
unemployment
have
ratcheted
up
demand
at
organizations
like
Greater
Cleveland
Food
Bank,
where
one
Baldwin
Wallace
University
graduate
is
helping
to
lead
efforts
to
meet
the
need.
Kristen
Glazer
'10
has
a
deeply
rooted
passion
for
the
mission.
As
a
middle
schooler,
she
joined
in
a
Harvest
for
Hunger
competition,
where
she
learned
about
the
issues
of
hunger
in
her
community.
She
asked
her
parents
to
use
her
allowance
money
to
buy
canned
goods
for
the
competition.
"Not
only
did
they
say
yes,
they
said
that
they'd
match
my
contribution,"
she
fondly
remembers.
"You
could
say
that
was
my
first
experience
with
a
'match
campaign,'
and
it
was
motivating."
Building
interest
and
skills
at
BW
As
a
BW
undergraduate
studying
public
relations
and
marketing,
Glazer
fine-tuned
her
nonprofit
advocacy
and
event
planning
experience.
"My
most
impactful
moment
was
working
with
[PR]
professor
Julie
Miller
and
planning
a
speed-networking
event,
'PR
for
Nonprofits,'"
she
says.
"Not
only
did
it
affirm
my
interest
in
working
in
the
nonprofit
sector,
I
personally
made
several
valuable
connections
that
I
now
call
friends
today."
Confronting
rising
demand,
falling
donations
Glazer
now
uses
her
heart
for
philanthropy
and
service
in
her
role
as
senior
manager
of
donor
relations
at
the
Greater
Cleveland
Food
Bank.
Due
to
the
pandemic,
the
need
for
services
has
increased
exponentially.
"To
put
things
in
perspective,
compared
to
last
year
at
this
time,
the
Food
Bank
has
purchased
three
times
more
food
due
to
increased
need,
while
seeing
a
40%
decline
in
food
donations,"
she
explains.
Between
March
15
and
May
18,
the
Food
Bank
and
its
network
of
partners
distributed
more
than
40,000
disaster
boxes,
with
the
Food
Bank
alone
delivering
more
than
2,700
boxes
to
homebound
individuals,
primarily
seniors.
"Of
the
thousands
of
clients
that
we
are
serving,
more
than
50%
are
children
and
seniors,"
Glazer
says.
"Over
one-third
of
the
people
we're
serving
are
new
to
our
network
and
have
never
relied
on
emergency
food
assistance
in
the
past."
Teaching
and
Philanthropy
at
BW
At
her
alma
mater,
Glazer
also
works
as
an
adjunct
professor
in
BW's
Communication
Arts
and
Sciences
Department
and
is
on
the
steering
committee
for
Women
for
BW.
"Women
for
BW
has
allowed
me
to
have
a
much
more
focused
area
of
philanthropy
while
also
providing
opportunities
to
participate
in
special
programming
and
engagement
activities,"
she
says.
"BW
helped
open
so
many
doors
for
me,
and
I'll
always
be
grateful
for
my
time
there,"
Glazer
adds.
"From
my
teaching
perspective,
the
talent
that
our
students
possess
is
nothing
short
of
incredible,
and
I
am
able
to
witness
it
firsthand.
I
want
to
be
able
to
help
open
as
many
doors
as
I
can
for
them,
just
like
so
many
others
did
for
me."
NOTE:
This
is
an
edited
version
of
a
story
that
first
appeared
as
a
Women
for
BW
Member
Spotlight.
