VIP Fellows at Jewish Family Service in San Diego came together this week for a wonderful
and meaningful Cesar Chavez Day of Service. We partnered with a local nonprofit
called ArtReach that enters lower income schools to give art lessons to
students, and together, we went to Washington Elementary School for a day of
service that really benefited the school and the students.
For the first half of the day, we spent time in the garden with
students from Washington’s after school program, Prime Time. Samantha Vargas, VIP
Fellow at the International Rescue Committee, led an interactive discussion
with the students about who Cesar Chavez was, the work he did, and how our
gardening could relate to this great man. Then Lauren Kraft, VIP Fellow at Feeding
America San Diego, passed out healthy snacks, played healthy food-friendly
music, and gave out bilingual folders on healthy eating while the rest of us took to gardening. We definitely breathed
some new life into the school garden!
In the afternoon, we painted two murals depicting Cesar Chavez and farm
workers. The students were incredibly helpful and we could not have
completed the project without them. They were creative, dedicated, and
interested all while following directions from the artist. The murals will be
up in the school for all of the students to take pride in. I even gave them a talk about what AmeriCorps was and why we were there helping them improve
their school. I definitely made sure to tie our dedication to service to the lifelong work
and service of Cesar Chavez.
¡Sí se puede!
by Margot Schein, VIP Lead at Jewish Family Service of San Diego
No comments:
Post a Comment