Giving Thanks by Giving Back: Nourishing Our Community

During the months of November and December, our middle school students were demonstrating some of the many ways to give thanks, give back, and support our Mission Dolores community!

Lively Latin music filled the courtyard of Saint Mary’s and Martha’s Church, where dozens of our student volunteers took their posts to prepare and distribute holiday lunches and food boxes. Some 500 San Franciscans passed through El Mercadito (the Little Market) over the course of two hours to receive a warm meal or take a box of free groceries home. Students had a ton of fun every step of the way as they also learned to salsa with their Spanish teacher, Henry Blanco, while rocking out to Jose Feliciano’s Feliz Navidad. The afternoon at El Mercadito went fast and at the end of the day, everyone walked out feeling inspired by being able to share in this bonding moment with their classmates and getting to know our Mission neighbors.

On the other side of town, at the Mission Food Hub, there were multiple activities for some of our other students to also get to know each other a little better over the subject of food! After washing their hands, putting on aprons, hairnets, and gloves, the students were set to go! They were dispersed and given tasks by the lead chefs. This outreach was by far the biggest food distribution effort that the students had worked on to date. The CDS middle school team was put in charge of packing over 500 frozen turkeys for the massive Thanksgiving giveaway that was about to be underway. Students made hundreds of sturdy boxes to hold turkeys, grains, and all types of harvest veggies such as squash, beets and potatoes. Not only did they provide service to the community, they learned a ton about the power of different nourishing foods for the mind, body and spirit!

A special thank you to the Middle School advisors Robyn, Henry, Paola, and Ryan for chaperoning these visits all month and making these partnerships so meaningful!