On Saturday, November 6th, the Lycée community came together for the first in-school event since the pandemic. Lycée Cares is a food drive held annually in partnership with City Harvest at our school. Community members donate thousands of pounds of food in donations and come together to pack snack bags for New Yorkers in need. After the bags are packed, City Harvest picks them up and delivers the food to food pantries, soup kitchens, and other organizations around New York City.
Led by co-chairs Yazmín Vando-Flores and Paula de Alba Fiorito, our fifth Lycée Cares was an enormous success. We thank Yazmín and Paula for their amazing leadership, insight, and kindness. “There’s nothing more rewarding than giving back with love and from our hearts,” Yazmín says, “In these uncertain times, support and being present for those who are struggling is very important.”
The Lycée community donated 5,000 pounds of food, which filled 5,000 snack bags. These thousands of bags were packed into hundreds of boxes–we had so many boxes in fact, that City Harvest had to send an extra truck to pick up all of the food! Throughout the day, volunteers organized the food donations, filled the bags with care, and assembled and packed boxes. Most engaged were the students, who quickly assumed leadership roles in each step of the process. Kiera Faulkner Jekos said, “Children were so engaged, and it was such a great bonding experience.”
Learning about food insecurity in the classroom
Our students have always played an active role in Lycée Cares. Some of our younger students learn about Lycée Cares in their classrooms, with books and discussions about food insecurity and hunger. They also learn about the importance of giving back to the community around them. What do words like sensibiliser and humanitaire mean? Faire une donation, how does that lead to améliorer le monde? Students learned the vocabulary, then applied their new knowledge artistically, making signs for the event.
“It was amazing to see my daughter, who is only 5 years old,” said Nassim Lefebvre, “fully grasp the concept of giving back.”
During the sign-making process, students explained to us what they were doing, and why this event was so important. I spoke with students who were working on their signs, many expressed the importance of participating in food drives and explained that sometimes things as simple as donating fruit can really make life better for someone. Many students expressed excitement for the event – whether it was that they were excited to have the event back in person, or excited to attend for the first time.
Students combined text and images to create calls to action. They drew pictures of food, pictures of the world, and pictures of New York City – framed by words of support to encourage participation.
About City Harvest
Each year, the Lycée partners with City Harvest. City Harvest was founded in 1982, as the world’s first food rescue organization. The nonprofit collects excess food that would otherwise go to waste from restaurants, groceries, bakeries, farms and other places. They also work with communities like ours to run food drives! Then, City Harvest distributes the food to community food programs throughout New York City.
After all of the food at the Lycée drive picked up by City Harvest, it was distributed to:
- Ebenezer Seventh Day Adventist Church food pantry in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn,
- La Puerta Estrecha (Narrow Door I.M.C.) in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan,
- The Cathedral Kitchen at St. John the Divine on the Upper West Side of Manhattan,
- The Harding-Ford Vision in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, and
- Children of the Light Ministries food pantry in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn.
In addition to all the food donated through Give Health, St. Michel also donated boxes of Galettes. Thank you to St. Michel for this special donation!
Lycée Cares moved online during the pandemic. For the first time in almost two years, the school was able to welcome students and their families into the school. Said Evelyne Estey, Head of School, “How fitting that our first in-school community event be Lycée Cares!”
With thanks to everyone who came together to make the day a joyful success.
About the Author :
Katherine Ketterer joined the Development Team in 2021. She previously worked with two NGOs at the United Nations and contributed to various disarmament-related publications and research. Katherine was as a teaching assistant at Pace University (her alma matter), which kickstarted her passion for developing and improving education for all.