Campus Kitchen Volunteer Selected for WM Engagement Award

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, January 26, 2012

Molly Bulman

The Monroe Prize for Civic Engagement is presented annually to a student who “demonstrates sustained leadership of an unusual quality – leadership combined with initiative, character and an unfailing commitment to leveraging the assets of the William and Mary community to address the needs of our society.”

Bulman, a New Jersey native, came into the college as a Sharpe Scholar, where she received an introduction to service opportunities on campus. Her mother had served on the board of the South Jersey Food Bank and her father helped run an annual Yom Kippur food drive; following their example, Bulman became involved with the Campus Kitchen at William and Mary.

At first, Bulman helped with cooking shifts at the kitchen, which gathers food from local businesses and restaurants and delivers it to Williamsburg families in need. Eventually, she was invited to help with the organization’s finances and fundraising.

“It was exciting to start working on grants and see the business side of an organization like this, and that kind of grew into my most recent role as student coordinator,” she told W&M News. Since her freshman year, she has seen the organization double the number of meals it delivers each week to approximately 180, and the kitchen started Fun at Five, which provides activities and field trips for children.

“When I first started, Campus Kitchen was two years old, and a lot of our residents hated that we were assuming they needed food. We got a lot of slammed doors,” said Bulman. “It was an interesting transition to have them begin to trust us, have them trust us with their kids after school, and today – as I’m leaving – I see the new student team getting ready to have start new programs with them.”

Bulman has also been involved in student government, and currently serves as the vice president of the Student Assembly. She is also a program assistant and fellow with the Sharpe Program.

A public policy major and finance minor, Bulman is working on a thesis on civic engagement in two types of local governments: those led by a mayor and council and those led by a council and manager. Her thesis will be based on 40 case studies, and she will investigate opportunities for civic engagement offered in different localities.

In his recommendation for Bulman, Joel Schwartz, director of the Charles Center, said most undergraduates approach public service either from a passion for engagement and social justice or from an analytic, objective perspective.

“Molly is nearly unique in her balanced dedication to both of these approaches to public service,” he said. “On the one hand, as a beginning freshman she signed up to work on three political campaigns before classes even began and she has taken the lead to organize voter registration drives and a rally on campus in support of health care reform. But she has also regularly put herself in a position to use her quantitative and policy analysis skills to serve the public.”

Bulman hopes to one day study urban planning in graduate school. She told W&M News she was “extremely excited” to be selected for the prize, but even more excited to share the stage with Charter Day speaker and William and Mary alum Robert Gates, the former U.S. secretary of defense.