March marks National Social Work Month in Canada. In addition to presenting an opportunity for social workers to get together and share information, the event also provides us with the chance to tell our community about what we do and to take steps to improve our social world.
The theme of Social Work Month 2017 is “the power to empower.” In keeping with this theme the students in the community social work practice class at Yukon College have taken it upon themselves to organize and launch a food drive at the college. The two-week-long event sees students competing against staff and faculty to see how much food each group can raise for the student food bank and the Whitehorse food bank. In the process the social work students have the opportunity to inform the community about the reality of food insecurity in the territory and across the country.
As an instructor in the social work program I want to take this opportunity to say how extremely proud I am of the students in our program. Not only are their efforts helping to raise awareness, improve the campus and enrich the community, they are also taking steps to walk the talk around social justice and service to humanity — two critical components of social work practice. Anyone interested in supporting the food banks can do so until March 17 at the Yukon College Welcome Centre.
Jordan Aslett Instructor, Bachelor of social work program, Yukon College