Our Mission:Jim Carrey, Halle Berry, "James Bond" Daniel Craig, Steve Harvey, Hillary Swank.
These are the names of famous celebrities in Hollywood, but they also have something else in common: They were once homeless. We, as the Hunger & Poverty Committee, want to make immediate impacts on those who aren't guaranteed a meal every day and also shed light on the faces and stories of those who are less fortunate. They are not always the stereotype convicts and drug addicts. They are people and they have stories. Through our events we hope our students realize it is a human right, not privilege, to eat every single day. We focus on local, regional, and international efforts to combat what we feel is the greatest injustice in our world today, that is hunger. Some of Our Events:
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Once a month we volunteer to cook dinner for a local glenview Soup Kitchen. The cooking is done in our Foods Room after school. It's a great first step to experience what our committee does. If Community Kitchen is the beginners activity, we consider this event the "advanced". We say that because during this Soup Kitchen we go down to an innercity homeless shelter and cook meals at the site. We then sit down and eat the meal with the guests of the shelter and engage in conversations. It is so encouraging to hear the stories of those who are homeless and simply share a meal and life with them. This has been arguably our most impactful/powerful event and we encourage anyone who wants to challenged to sign up for this quarterly event. Over the years in doing this event, we have heard some powerful stories of how people became homeless and what they hope to do to change that. One homeless attendee came up to our leader during one of these events and said, "Thank you guys for coming here and not only cooking for us, but making us feel human again. Everyday society tells us we are scum and that we don't deserve any respect, but you young folk coming here and taking your time to not only eat with us but talk to us and show that you care, it makes me feel like I'm a human being. That's something I haven't felt in a long time. So thank you from the bottom of my heart." Once a semester we take a field trip to pack meals for third world country children through the organization Feed My Starving Children. For two hours we pack as many boxes of meals as we possibly can that will be sent out all over the world to orphanages to help fight childhood hunger. The last time we went we were able to pack over 39,000 meals! That is the equivalent of feeding over 110 children for a year.
In the spring, we have a day after school where we do our part in halting hunger through various activities. We set up stations were students can halt hunger through packing lunch meals for innercity youth, another station where we use technology to donate to world relief, and also provide emotional encouragement through creating diaries for the orphans. It's a great way to get involved locally, regionally, and internationally all at one event! This event was featured on ABC News last year! Watch the video under the "Media" tab. In the spring, we partner with Willowcreek Community Church to pack seeds that are sent to Africa to promote agricultural sustainability. The seeds are distributed to families so that the seeds can not only grow crops to feed their families, but also be used as a source of income. |
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