Post by southsidesignmaker on Apr 15, 2010 7:38:41 GMT -6
A generous helping
Students prepare meals for people in Haiti
Comments
April 15, 2010
By KATHY MILLEN kmillen@stmedianetwork.com
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/2160364,6_1_NA15_FOODFIGHT_S1-100415.article
Some of the most important lessons learned in school aren't found in textbooks.
And some of the most influential teachers can actually be students themselves.
This week, hundreds of students from District 203 and 204 high schools are learning the value of helping others through a hands-on experience initiated by Food Fight, a student-run organization that raises money for specially formulated meals to send to people in need.
Student volunteers at Naperville Central, Naperville North and Waubonsie Valley high schools spent their lunch breaks and physical education classes Wednesday helping Food Fight package meals for people in Haiti. Students at Neuqua Valley High School are scheduled to do the same Friday. A date has not yet been set for a similar event at Metea Valley High School.
Food Fight is working in conjunction with Impact Lives, a Minnesota-based organization that works to transform communities and people through leadership identification, cross-cultural training and short-term humanitarian efforts.
Toward that end, student volunteers at the local high schools donned hair nets and gathered around tables in the schools' field houses filling plastic bags with carefully measured amounts of rice, soy, dried vegetables and a chicken-flavored nutrient powder. The bags, weighing between 390 to 400 grams each, included enough of the mixture to feed six people for a day.
Food Fight volunteers raised money to pay for food and shipping costs through the sale of T-shirts, a dinner event donated by LaSorella restaurant, church offerings and, coming up Saturday, a benefit breakfast buffet at Meson Sabika.
The Rotary Club of Naperville is matching money raised, up to $5,000.
Jonathan Meneses, a junior at Naperville Central High School and one of the organizers of the Food Fight events this year, said people have an obligation to help others.
"What we have at stake in this is nothing for us," he said. "It's just we saw that we have so much more than other people around the world. We can't do anything directly to change it, but we can send food and supplies over to help."
At Naperville Central, Meneses shares Food Fight leadership roles with Brad Hicks and Luke Forand, also juniors. Hicks said high school students want to help.
"We are trying to make a conscious effort to go ahead and make a difference," he said. "It's like a sense of purpose, a sense of fulfillment. Everything that we've been building up to and all the stress and worries that we've put on ourselves, now we're seeing how it all comes together. It's amazing at what everyone else can do."
Food Fight was launched last year by John Macikas, at the time a senior at Naperville Central, and Jordan Prosapio, then a senior at Naperville North, who came up with the idea while on a retreat with Community Christian Church. They held the first food packaging event at Naperville North and Waubonsie Valley high schools last year, raising about $15,000, which was enough to send 100,000 meals to Cambodia and Zambia.
This year's goal among the five schools is to raise $32,000 and ship from 150,000 to 200,000 meals to Haiti.
Ezra Mehlaff, facilitator for Impact Lives, said his organization uses food as a tool to transform lives of people in need and those who help them as well.
"Being generous is not only important, but it affects how we live," he said. "Being generous costs us something. You have to sacrifice to be generous. When we start with young kids, that's where kids learn the values they will keep the rest of their lives. We really want this not to be an activity but something that causes a movement that carries on to something else."
Student leaders said they would not have been as successful were it not for the help of Naperville Central humanities instructional coordinator Mike Bochenski, who has been adviser for the project at the school. He, however, gives the students all the credit.
"These guys were the ones who came to me, not the other way around," he said. "They did it. I am standing here managing and, like any good manager, I don't have to do much. They've been planning it all year and they got it done and we're going to have 200,000 meals for people who don't have any resources. I'm very proud of them."
Central Principal Bill Wiesbrook said one of the missions of his school is to show students how to become community leaders. The Food Fight initiative is one of several service projects students have participated in during the past year.
"This is a nice way for kids to contribute to the global community," Wiesbrook said. "They are helping the unfortunate people in Haiti today. I'm very happy about that and proud they are getting the experience of doing for others."
Food Fight will hold a fundraising breakfast to raise money to end world hunger Saturday at Meson Sabika, 1025 Aurora Ave., Naperville.
Seating is at 9, 9:30 and 10 a.m.
Tickets are $25. All proceeds will be donated to the project.
For more information, or to order tickets, call 630-347-4647 or e-mail foodfightfor hunger@gmail.com.
Students prepare meals for people in Haiti
Comments
April 15, 2010
By KATHY MILLEN kmillen@stmedianetwork.com
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/2160364,6_1_NA15_FOODFIGHT_S1-100415.article
Some of the most important lessons learned in school aren't found in textbooks.
And some of the most influential teachers can actually be students themselves.
This week, hundreds of students from District 203 and 204 high schools are learning the value of helping others through a hands-on experience initiated by Food Fight, a student-run organization that raises money for specially formulated meals to send to people in need.
Student volunteers at Naperville Central, Naperville North and Waubonsie Valley high schools spent their lunch breaks and physical education classes Wednesday helping Food Fight package meals for people in Haiti. Students at Neuqua Valley High School are scheduled to do the same Friday. A date has not yet been set for a similar event at Metea Valley High School.
Food Fight is working in conjunction with Impact Lives, a Minnesota-based organization that works to transform communities and people through leadership identification, cross-cultural training and short-term humanitarian efforts.
Toward that end, student volunteers at the local high schools donned hair nets and gathered around tables in the schools' field houses filling plastic bags with carefully measured amounts of rice, soy, dried vegetables and a chicken-flavored nutrient powder. The bags, weighing between 390 to 400 grams each, included enough of the mixture to feed six people for a day.
Food Fight volunteers raised money to pay for food and shipping costs through the sale of T-shirts, a dinner event donated by LaSorella restaurant, church offerings and, coming up Saturday, a benefit breakfast buffet at Meson Sabika.
The Rotary Club of Naperville is matching money raised, up to $5,000.
Jonathan Meneses, a junior at Naperville Central High School and one of the organizers of the Food Fight events this year, said people have an obligation to help others.
"What we have at stake in this is nothing for us," he said. "It's just we saw that we have so much more than other people around the world. We can't do anything directly to change it, but we can send food and supplies over to help."
At Naperville Central, Meneses shares Food Fight leadership roles with Brad Hicks and Luke Forand, also juniors. Hicks said high school students want to help.
"We are trying to make a conscious effort to go ahead and make a difference," he said. "It's like a sense of purpose, a sense of fulfillment. Everything that we've been building up to and all the stress and worries that we've put on ourselves, now we're seeing how it all comes together. It's amazing at what everyone else can do."
Food Fight was launched last year by John Macikas, at the time a senior at Naperville Central, and Jordan Prosapio, then a senior at Naperville North, who came up with the idea while on a retreat with Community Christian Church. They held the first food packaging event at Naperville North and Waubonsie Valley high schools last year, raising about $15,000, which was enough to send 100,000 meals to Cambodia and Zambia.
This year's goal among the five schools is to raise $32,000 and ship from 150,000 to 200,000 meals to Haiti.
Ezra Mehlaff, facilitator for Impact Lives, said his organization uses food as a tool to transform lives of people in need and those who help them as well.
"Being generous is not only important, but it affects how we live," he said. "Being generous costs us something. You have to sacrifice to be generous. When we start with young kids, that's where kids learn the values they will keep the rest of their lives. We really want this not to be an activity but something that causes a movement that carries on to something else."
Student leaders said they would not have been as successful were it not for the help of Naperville Central humanities instructional coordinator Mike Bochenski, who has been adviser for the project at the school. He, however, gives the students all the credit.
"These guys were the ones who came to me, not the other way around," he said. "They did it. I am standing here managing and, like any good manager, I don't have to do much. They've been planning it all year and they got it done and we're going to have 200,000 meals for people who don't have any resources. I'm very proud of them."
Central Principal Bill Wiesbrook said one of the missions of his school is to show students how to become community leaders. The Food Fight initiative is one of several service projects students have participated in during the past year.
"This is a nice way for kids to contribute to the global community," Wiesbrook said. "They are helping the unfortunate people in Haiti today. I'm very happy about that and proud they are getting the experience of doing for others."
Food Fight will hold a fundraising breakfast to raise money to end world hunger Saturday at Meson Sabika, 1025 Aurora Ave., Naperville.
Seating is at 9, 9:30 and 10 a.m.
Tickets are $25. All proceeds will be donated to the project.
For more information, or to order tickets, call 630-347-4647 or e-mail foodfightfor hunger@gmail.com.
