Addressing the need for food in our community is often the most obvious need presented to us by food drives and holiday meals. We often forget the other obvious: food is a daily need and our food banks need constant support to help those struggling with food insecurity. Our children can become aware of daily attention to this need in the cafeteria.
A district wide K-12 service learning project creates an ongoing, self-sustaining system to address food insecurity in local communities.
Similar to other topics, this year long leadership role for fifth grade grows beyond the single year. Service becomes a constant in the curriculum, similar to other subjects. Year after year successive classes of fifth graders build on the work of the previous years. Data is compounded and relationships are solidified. Improvements are easily implemented and food bank staff find consistent community support to create optimum outcomes.
Teachers join with their peers nationwide to witness the empowerment of students in creating change. Joining nationally in these service topics we build national graduating classes of students that have established productive working relationships and changed their communities in ways we were unable to imagine. And they will tell us it was easy!
More Project Possibilities
For many of us, shining the light on this particular community need may reveal a problem that we didn’t see in its entirety. Becoming educated about a problem can at first seem daunting. The silver lining is that others have already been problem solving. They are the social entrepreneurs who having been among us, doing this work, and they are anxious for us to join them. They are there to help us realize the mega solution.
Food Topic Areas:
A National Service Initiative - Starting in Kindergarten 