From March 8th to the 19th a group of year 12 students have been hosting a canned & non-perishable food drive. The aim of the food drive was to donate food to a local charity called ‘So Others Might Eat’ (SOME).
The group of students placed donation boxes in a range of places around the building to allow the drive to be accessible to all ages. Th school community was encouraged to donate dried, non-perishable, canned foods such as pasta, rice, and canned fruits or vegetables.
As a part of the IB program the school runs year 12 and 13 students are encouraged to engage in ‘service activities’. These service activities are used to engage students with their local environment and contribute to their local community. The group of year 12s chose to collaborate with SOME as they are a local charity and all donations go directly to those in need in the D.C. area.
The group wanted to contribute to change and aid in the community. The COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in poverty and the year 12s wanted to help to combat some of the negative effects people have been suffering with, that is why the group worked with SOME previously during Thanksgiving and Christmas.
We spoke to Matilde Impavido and Francesca King, two students running the food drive, about the success of their CAS project.
Matilde detailed to us how the project began, “we thought it would best to help out our local community here in Washington DC. Our initial plan was to raise awareness on homelessness in DC but we ended up wanting to create a direct impact by helping feed families around our Nation's capital.”
Matilde and Francesca spoke about the process it took for the project to come to fruition “ to organize it took about 3 weeks; as we had to create a contact down at the shelter, raise awareness on the issue and spread the idea around school, gather supplies for the drive and then make sure it would fit CDC health guidelines.”
While this was a student led project the two recognized the support they received “Mrs. Morris (our IB coordinator) was really helpful in the process, she helped us get the news out about the drive. We also made a contact with the Volunteer Services Manager at SOME (So Others Might Eat) and Mr. Stewart who has helped us organize transportation to the shelter.”
With the prevalence on the COVID-19 pandemic, that has now been occurring for a year now, charities have both suffered and gained. These trying times have led to those more fortunate appreciating their circumstances and feeling the need to give back to their communities, which is why during the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a surge in donations to charities. Despite this charities have suffered as they have had to navigate how to operate under these changing conditions and giving to more people in the community as more are people are suffering. Times like these only stress the importance of participating in charitable acts like the ones the Year 12's hosted.
Writers: Molly Broad, Mathilda Dempsey, Iris Voinea, Irina Wilderotter
Editors: Minna Abdel-Gawad, Alex Jimenez-Hope
Commentaires