Interview with Jesse Garret-Larsen
Dublin Core
Title
Interview with Jesse Garret-Larsen
Subject
Community; Poverty; Education; Economic assistance, Domestic; Community development
Description
This is an interview with Jesse Garret-Larsen, who is a student at The College of Wooster, and has been involved with the Community Breakfast Program. This program is affiliated with the UCC Trinity Church in downtown Wooster, Ohio, which as implemented a program over the last 20 years of serving and eating breakfast with community members. This program is open to all community members, even though the stereotype is that it is meant for those who may not necessarily be able to afford food.
Creator
Remtulla, Amrin
Garret-Larsen, Jesse
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
2018-11-28
Contributor
College of Wooster Libraries
Rights
Format
Mp3
Language
eng
Type
Sound
Identifier
Garret-Larsen_Jesse_Interview.mp3
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Interviewer
Amrin Remtulla
Interviewee
Jesse Garret-Larsen
Location
College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio
Transcription
Jesse Garret-Larsen Interview
Edited for clarity by Amrin Remtulla
Amrin Remtulla: Hello, we’re here today with Jesse Garret-Larsen, and it’s Wednesday 28th 2018. Hello Jesse.
Jesse Garret-Larsen: Hey Amrin, how are you doing?
AR: I’m good thanks, how are you?
JGL: I’m pretty good.
AR: Ok, we’ll just get started with the interview then.
JGL: Sounds good.
AR: So, what local organization are you apart of?
JGL: So, I am part of the Community Breakfast Program which is a program that brings college students to the UCC Trinity Church to serve free breakfast to anyone who wants.
AR: Ok, awesome. So how does the College of Wooster students tie in with this organization?
JGL: Yeah so basically students are brought from the college down to the church every morning. We have rotating shifts, so every day you have 3 or 4 college students go prepare breakfast and serve it to anyone in the community who wants to come to breakfast and get a free breakfast. As well as serving we go out and hang out with the people who show up to try to foster bonds between the community members and the College of Wooster students.
AR: That’s awesome! Could you tell me a little bit about the history of the organization?
JGL: So, I’ve been a part of this organization for two and a half years and the organization itself has been around for about 20 years, so they’ve been serving breakfast for a very long time to the community members. Other than that I don’t know all that much, I know that we’ve had great success with the program. Every day there’s an average of about 80 people who get breakfast and that’s really started to—or it has been making a difference in people’s lives. The College of Wooster student’s started going 5 years ago, something like that and we have a house on campus now that people are a part of and people can join to go serve breakfast as well as a club that we’re starting up where people can come eat breakfast with community members.
AR: That sounds awesome. So besides the breakfast aspect of the organization, are there other smaller projects that have been implemented?
JGL: Yes. So we have been looking for ways to expand our program from just preparing and serving breakfast and hanging out to other aspects of life. So, a couple years ago—actually last year one of the big laundromats shut down that was downtown and a bunch of people don’t have access to laundry anymore, so our house is trying to come up with a solution to that by looking into doing laundry for people and setting up a way to keep peoples clothes clean so they don’t have to buy clothes all the time. And there are plenty of other ideas that we’ve had, but that’s kind of in the forefront as well as just trying to increase the number of Wooster students who are going to breakfast and interacting with this part of the community. There’s actually one other thing, there have been recently been a couple articles published in the local newspaper about how the homeless population of Wooster is scaring away the local college students from the businesses and so as a group who interacts with the homeless community we’re writing back to express that that’s not really true, and that we have this great—this great connection with the homeless population, so [we're] fighting back against negative stereotypes about homelessness as well.
AR: Ok great. Does the organization or the house support LGBTQIA+ community?
JGL: Yeah, we do. There are lots of people who come to breakfast who have been ostracized from their communities because of mental health issues, because of their gender identity... and its always-- it’s always kind of sad to see that but also the interactions that we have with them. We-- we try to make people as at home and part of the community as possible within the breakfast community. So we completely are and it’s always nice to see different sections of the community at breakfast together.
AR: Great. What actions would you like to see the Community Breakfast Program implement with-- the house as well as the organization in the near future?
JGL: So I think definitely trying to get the laundry program up and running, we’re having some difficulty just because we’re trying to do lots or high volume of laundry in our one laundry machine at our house which isn’t ideal, so finding a solution to that. I think also just really important is getting more Wooster students to go to breakfast and then also to respect the homeless population in Wooster, you know sometimes I’ll see people from breakfast on Beall walking through campus and I’ll be able to stop and say hi and that’s really heartwarming and part of the-- part of the mission of the group. I think spreading that mentality to everyone on campus would be the biggest improvement that we can make.
AR: So something that has been brought to my attention is that there’s like a very-- there’s a generalization that-- that breakfast is only for people who can’t necessarily afford it and I do understand that there are other people form the community who do come up and show up and just want to have that interaction because their bridging that gap…
JGL: Yeah.
AR: …but how do you think this can be, you know, more improved in the future?
JGL: Yeah.
AR: Like is there something that we can do as College of Wooster students from our side to build-- you know bridge that gap?
JGL: Yeah I think there is. I think that there definitely is that negative stereotype about the homeless community in Wooster and I think that people are a little scared to go to breakfast because it’s around people that they don’t really--they don’t feel comfortable about, and I think as College of Wooster students we should be comfortable with being uncomfortable, that’s kind of what we’re taught to do. And I think that it’s our responsibility as a part of the broader Wooster community to step out into the community and welcome people with open arms who may not be welcomed by other parts of the community. I’m kind of getting side tracked here.
AR: That’s fine.
JGL: But what was the second part of the question?
AR: How can we as College of Wooster students improve and how can we-- like what can we do as College of Wooster students to bridge that gap? Like besides obviously just the Breakfast Program, spreading awareness and talking to people and being like “No, just come its going to be ok.”
JGL: Sure sure sure, ok.
AR: But what else can we do? Like is there something that others can do too?
JGL: Yeah, so we I think-- actually just saw an email about Bridging Beall 2.0 that’s-- a program that CDI is putting on that Nate Addington is in charge of that is very, very strongly connected to the breakfast program, that’s focusing on poverty in Wooster and talking about the issues that are causing this and kind of pushing back against the stereotypes. So, I think engaging in things like that as well as talking to friends and other community members that you might not see all the time.
AR: Ok. Is there anything else you would like to mention about the organization that we’ve not talked about?
JGL: I think we’ve hit most of the main points, just that, starting soon we’re really going to ramp up the club aspect of the house and try to start really bringing people to breakfast to eat breakfast and not to serve breakfast specifically and I think that will make a big impact in the relationships formed at breakfast and the people that we see off of campus who are you know walking through and be able to... not be scared of the townies and recognizing that everyone is human and that we all can live happily together.
AR: Ok perfect, well thank you so much Jesse, I really appreciate it.
JGL: Thank you, Amrin.
Edited for clarity by Amrin Remtulla
Amrin Remtulla: Hello, we’re here today with Jesse Garret-Larsen, and it’s Wednesday 28th 2018. Hello Jesse.
Jesse Garret-Larsen: Hey Amrin, how are you doing?
AR: I’m good thanks, how are you?
JGL: I’m pretty good.
AR: Ok, we’ll just get started with the interview then.
JGL: Sounds good.
AR: So, what local organization are you apart of?
JGL: So, I am part of the Community Breakfast Program which is a program that brings college students to the UCC Trinity Church to serve free breakfast to anyone who wants.
AR: Ok, awesome. So how does the College of Wooster students tie in with this organization?
JGL: Yeah so basically students are brought from the college down to the church every morning. We have rotating shifts, so every day you have 3 or 4 college students go prepare breakfast and serve it to anyone in the community who wants to come to breakfast and get a free breakfast. As well as serving we go out and hang out with the people who show up to try to foster bonds between the community members and the College of Wooster students.
AR: That’s awesome! Could you tell me a little bit about the history of the organization?
JGL: So, I’ve been a part of this organization for two and a half years and the organization itself has been around for about 20 years, so they’ve been serving breakfast for a very long time to the community members. Other than that I don’t know all that much, I know that we’ve had great success with the program. Every day there’s an average of about 80 people who get breakfast and that’s really started to—or it has been making a difference in people’s lives. The College of Wooster student’s started going 5 years ago, something like that and we have a house on campus now that people are a part of and people can join to go serve breakfast as well as a club that we’re starting up where people can come eat breakfast with community members.
AR: That sounds awesome. So besides the breakfast aspect of the organization, are there other smaller projects that have been implemented?
JGL: Yes. So we have been looking for ways to expand our program from just preparing and serving breakfast and hanging out to other aspects of life. So, a couple years ago—actually last year one of the big laundromats shut down that was downtown and a bunch of people don’t have access to laundry anymore, so our house is trying to come up with a solution to that by looking into doing laundry for people and setting up a way to keep peoples clothes clean so they don’t have to buy clothes all the time. And there are plenty of other ideas that we’ve had, but that’s kind of in the forefront as well as just trying to increase the number of Wooster students who are going to breakfast and interacting with this part of the community. There’s actually one other thing, there have been recently been a couple articles published in the local newspaper about how the homeless population of Wooster is scaring away the local college students from the businesses and so as a group who interacts with the homeless community we’re writing back to express that that’s not really true, and that we have this great—this great connection with the homeless population, so [we're] fighting back against negative stereotypes about homelessness as well.
AR: Ok great. Does the organization or the house support LGBTQIA+ community?
JGL: Yeah, we do. There are lots of people who come to breakfast who have been ostracized from their communities because of mental health issues, because of their gender identity... and its always-- it’s always kind of sad to see that but also the interactions that we have with them. We-- we try to make people as at home and part of the community as possible within the breakfast community. So we completely are and it’s always nice to see different sections of the community at breakfast together.
AR: Great. What actions would you like to see the Community Breakfast Program implement with-- the house as well as the organization in the near future?
JGL: So I think definitely trying to get the laundry program up and running, we’re having some difficulty just because we’re trying to do lots or high volume of laundry in our one laundry machine at our house which isn’t ideal, so finding a solution to that. I think also just really important is getting more Wooster students to go to breakfast and then also to respect the homeless population in Wooster, you know sometimes I’ll see people from breakfast on Beall walking through campus and I’ll be able to stop and say hi and that’s really heartwarming and part of the-- part of the mission of the group. I think spreading that mentality to everyone on campus would be the biggest improvement that we can make.
AR: So something that has been brought to my attention is that there’s like a very-- there’s a generalization that-- that breakfast is only for people who can’t necessarily afford it and I do understand that there are other people form the community who do come up and show up and just want to have that interaction because their bridging that gap…
JGL: Yeah.
AR: …but how do you think this can be, you know, more improved in the future?
JGL: Yeah.
AR: Like is there something that we can do as College of Wooster students from our side to build-- you know bridge that gap?
JGL: Yeah I think there is. I think that there definitely is that negative stereotype about the homeless community in Wooster and I think that people are a little scared to go to breakfast because it’s around people that they don’t really--they don’t feel comfortable about, and I think as College of Wooster students we should be comfortable with being uncomfortable, that’s kind of what we’re taught to do. And I think that it’s our responsibility as a part of the broader Wooster community to step out into the community and welcome people with open arms who may not be welcomed by other parts of the community. I’m kind of getting side tracked here.
AR: That’s fine.
JGL: But what was the second part of the question?
AR: How can we as College of Wooster students improve and how can we-- like what can we do as College of Wooster students to bridge that gap? Like besides obviously just the Breakfast Program, spreading awareness and talking to people and being like “No, just come its going to be ok.”
JGL: Sure sure sure, ok.
AR: But what else can we do? Like is there something that others can do too?
JGL: Yeah, so we I think-- actually just saw an email about Bridging Beall 2.0 that’s-- a program that CDI is putting on that Nate Addington is in charge of that is very, very strongly connected to the breakfast program, that’s focusing on poverty in Wooster and talking about the issues that are causing this and kind of pushing back against the stereotypes. So, I think engaging in things like that as well as talking to friends and other community members that you might not see all the time.
AR: Ok. Is there anything else you would like to mention about the organization that we’ve not talked about?
JGL: I think we’ve hit most of the main points, just that, starting soon we’re really going to ramp up the club aspect of the house and try to start really bringing people to breakfast to eat breakfast and not to serve breakfast specifically and I think that will make a big impact in the relationships formed at breakfast and the people that we see off of campus who are you know walking through and be able to... not be scared of the townies and recognizing that everyone is human and that we all can live happily together.
AR: Ok perfect, well thank you so much Jesse, I really appreciate it.
JGL: Thank you, Amrin.
Duration
00:09:15
Files
Collection
Citation
Remtulla, Amrin and Garret-Larsen, Jesse, “Interview with Jesse Garret-Larsen,” WGSS at Wooster: Past, Present, and Future , accessed May 6, 2024, https://woosterdigital.org/wgssatwoo/items/show/130.