Students Prep Community Campaign Materials for Food Drive |
As the city of Houston prepared to host the 2017 Super Bowl Game,
three SBISD schools participated in another very important community
experience: the Souper Bowl of Caring.
Every year since 1990, the Souper Bowl of Caring has
encouraged youth and communities to come together around the time of the big
game to help those in need. Students at Bunker Hill, Hunter’s Creek and Shadow
Oaks Elementary schools heeded the call this year and challenged their schools
and communities to collect food items and donations in the fight against
hunger.
Since 2007, SBISD schools have collected over 16,200 food items
and 750 pounds of food for the program. While the mission of the Souper
Bowl of Caring is a simple one, the experience and lasting impact of
the program are complex and powerful.
“Our students selected poverty as a topic they wanted to learn
more about and explore ways to be active in supporting those in need,” said
Hunters Creek fifth-grade teacher Jessica Murphy.
“My students discovered that poverty is the cause for hunger,
homelessness, and job insecurity. They decided to tackle hunger first when the
opportunity to participate in the Souper Bowl of Caring was
presented,” she recalled.
And tackle it they did. Her students created a full-fledged
communications campaign to spread the word and mobilize their peers. The
intentional outreach was impactful and impressive.
“Fifth grade created posters, flyers for weekly folders, taught
lessons to the younger grades, and went on the announcements to raise awareness
about people in a hunger. We asked for the school’s help so we could help
others,” said fifth-grader Morgan Matherne.
With can collections growing on campus, students had tangible
proof that initiative and hard work yield results.
“Students learned that if you want to change something you have to
go for it. It is important for students to engage in community activities like
this because in this world there are people who really need help and it's our
job to help them,” said student Isabella Allon.
For Hunters Creek, those results were a total collection of 2,101
items of canned food, a collection exceeding their original goal by 101 canned
items. Donations went to East Spring Branch Food Pantry, a food pantry in their
school’s attendance zone and a donation likely to directly impact their
community.
When asked why making a local impact was important, Hayden
Haas was clear it was about driving change.
“We signed up this year for Souper Bowl of
Caring because we wanted to make a change for our community,” he said.
“The change was to make sure that people have enough healthy food to reach
their needs."
Helping students develop this empowered insight and deeper
understanding of others and the world is a critical lesson with far-reaching
impact in achieving career and life goals from Murphy’s perspective.
“Many hardworking Americans are having a hard time. I think that
was the biggest surprise for many of them,” she noted.
Another lesson learned in this experience? No matter who you are,
you can make a difference. “Souper Bowl of Caring is an amazing
program. I have learned so much and my school has helped a lot of family's meet
their food needs. From fifth grade to kinder, we all can help,” said student
Olivia Mafrige.
The combined impact of these students is a testament to #collectivegreatness,
one of the school district's Core Values.
“Anytime you give the control over to the students, you learn that
they are more compassionate and more capable than we give them credit for. They
have done a great job of being advocates for others in our community,” said
Murphy as she proudly reflect on her students’ achievement and the power of
working together.
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