SUNY Oswego - Alumni Association - August E-Newsletter

August 2010 • Vol 6 No 5

Alumna’s Road Trip Reveals Roots of Poverty

“Do you know where you are?” a puzzled passerby asks in East St. Louis. Jennifer Cooper ’95 assures she does.
Jennifer Cooper '95 on the National Mall

After about 1,200 miles, she’s used to looking a little out of place while walking inner city blocks or shuffling along the shoulder of a country road. Cooper hopes to increase awareness of poverty and homelessness over the course of her 3,000-mile journey from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco.

Cooper finished up the most recent leg — a month-long, 550-mile excursion from Chicago to Kansas City — in July. The longtime journalist maintains a blog and plans to write a book about her travels.

Trekking the cityscapes and country sides with backpack in tow makes you more accessible and strangers more apt to open up, she said.

“It’s the best way to get out and meet people and talk to them,” said Cooper, an English writing arts and anthropology double major at Oswego. She hopes her unusual journey and stories she encounters shed light on a growing problem.

“Homelessness has always really bothered me,” Cooper said. “People should not be abandoned.

“We have a responsibility to take care of our fellow man,” she said.

Since the first steps in July 2009, the sojourn has evolved into a broader exploration of poverty in America.

Cooper clarifies she has not hoofed every foot of the journey, opting for public transportation or a friendly lift only when necessary. But, the main portion has been pedestrian – the first part of Cooper’s walk ended when she suffered a stress fracture in her foot.

Cooper hopes to continue the walk from Kansas City to Denver this fall and conclude the effort in 2011.

“I hope that this inspires some people to make some positive changes in their own community,” she said. “What you do for the people closest to you – your family, your friends, your neighbors – that has a big impact on your quality of life.”

— Shane M. Liebler

PHOTO CAPTION:
Jennifer Cooper ’95 takes the first steps of her 3,000 mile cross-country journey in July 2009. Cooper, who is raising awareness of homelessness and poverty and writing a book, hopes to complete her multi-phase journey next year. (Photo by Lindsay Cooper)

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Who doesn’t want to save the world? Michael Kite ’02 does that for a living through World Wildlife Fund.

As marketing specialist for one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, Kite and his team of three work to raise more than $5 million each year. The majority of that money comes from licensing partnerships and promotions with the likes of Barnes & Noble, Gap, Hewlett-Packard, Dial and Coinstar.

Retail partnerships help WWF spread its message to the general public and raise funds for its conservation work around the globe. For example, Bank of America contributes $100 for every special Visa account opened and Nabisco is supporting WWF’s “Year of the Tiger” initiative with special packaging and a $100,000 donation. The new CVS Green Bag Tag program rewards reusable bag-toting customers, and generates five cents for WWF for each tag sold.

All support WWF’s mission of protecting the future of nature, down to the finest details, Kite said.

“We like to see that the product is made from recycled material and is recyclable itself, and somehow ties into our mission,” Kite said. The Green Bag Tag, for instance, is made from a corn-based material and features a 100 percent recycled silicone lanyard.

As a broadcasting major at Oswego, Kite got involved with WRVO-FM and WNYO-FM.

“I think it gave me a lot more confidence in talking to people,” he said. It was an important part of his early career in broadcast sales and remains an important piece in the message he “sells” today.

“The best part of my job is seeing a product in the store with the WWF logo after months of working with a company to launch it,” said Kite, who joined the organization in 2006. “It’s rewarding to give people a fun, unique way to protect our planet.”

— Shane M. Liebler