This past summer, Marisol Thomer '03E sat down to a delicious spaghetti dinner in a previously abandoned house in North Philadelphia. She was attending a meeting of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU), an activist group that aids families with welfare paperwork and housing. KWRU, which is largely run by welfare recipients, salvaged the building to provide a family of five with a place to live.

"I watched [the mother] make a full meal that tasted good out of bare scraps from the cupboard. It showed me the resourcefulness of a group of people that has very little resources except for heart," Thomer said.

Thomer helped the KWRU both in the office and in the field. "I participated [in KWRU] because it was the realization that working on groups here was only affecting a privileged few. And the people I was defending were privileged enough to feel the troubles of being at Amherst," said Thomer.

Thomer's activism began her sophomore year at Amherst. She joined the Queer Straight Alliance (QSA) in the fall and started her fight when she spoke at a QSA rally following the vandalizing of several pride flags that had hung over the Campus Center.

That semester, Thomer co-founded FACE (Financial Aid and Class Equality). She is still active with FACE and serves on the SGO Faculty Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid. Her involvement with QSA, FACE and other activist groups lead her to work with KWRU.

"People here sacrifice all the time to make this place better, just like the people in the real world sacrifice. I wanted to start making an impact on broader issues," said Thomer. The people at KWRU-the people fighting for the homeless and those on welfare-truly inspired her in her activism.

-Janet Ng