WHAT:
The Community Service Office organizes
homework clubs Monday through Thursday for several of our partner
schools near campus in south Bethlehem. Over 90% of the kids in these
partnering schools and those participating in homework clubs are on free
or reduced lunch, meaning their families live at or below the poverty
line. While these kids receive meals during school hours,
food insecurities are a constant concern in the evening hours and, more importantly, on the weekends.
SO WHAT:
Some homework club kids
do not know when or where their next meal will come from. Processed
foods, junk foods, and fast foods are more affordable than nutritious
foods and healthy produce and homework club kids typically have less
access to fruits, veggies, etc. Family members may work long hours in
the evenings and weekends as well meaning traditional dinner time is not
commonplace for some of our homework club kids. With this in mind, the
Community Service Office provides snacks during homework clubs and two
fraternities also prepare a weekly dinner for homework club kids (thanks
Sig Ep and DU). It's no coincidence that on the days dinners are
served, there is a 100% attendance rate at homework clubs. HOWEVER,
that still leaves the weekends...
NOW WHAT:
Introducing weekend
snack bags. The CSO and OFSA would like to partner with fraternities
and sororities on campus to prepare and deliver weekend snack bags for
homework club kids. Chapters have the opportunity to sign up for one
Thursday of the semester, prepare 41 snack bags for that date, and
deliver them to our homework club locations (both in walking distance
from campus). Snack bags should include healthy items such as fruits,
veggies, granola, cheese sticks, nuts, etc. More details on logistics
are included in the attachment. This is a great way to get involved
within the local community!!
HOW DO WE GET ON BOARD:
Email
amb512@lehigh.edu
to sign your chapter up. Include a chapter contact and that person's
email address and phone number. Also include any particular date(s)
your chapter would like to sign up for (see below for a list of
available dates).
WHAT DATES ARE AVAILABLE:
Thursday, January 17
Thursday, January 24
Thursday, January 31
Thursday, February 7
Thursday, February 14
Thursday, February 21
Thursday, February 28
Thursday, March 7 - Unavailable, THANKS ATO :)
Thursday, March 21
Wednesday, March 27
Thursday, April 4
Thursday, April 11
HOW
IT WORKS
§
Submit
a list of the items you will be putting in the snack bags by TUESDAY of your
designated week for approval
§ Prepare
individual snack bags for 41 students
- 20
Fritz, 21 Nativity
- Ages:
1st-5th grade, 6-11 years
§ Deliver
snack bags to Cathedral Church of the Nativity at 4:45PM and to Fritz Memorial
United Church at 5PM on THURSDAY (students leave at 5:15PM)
§ Recommend
2-4 people make deliveries (not entire chapter)
§ Wear
appropriate clothing when making deliveries (nothing too revealing, no shirts
with inappropriate sayings)
§ When
interacting with the students, be positive, use appropriate language, describe
the snack bags as a gift for the weekend (DO NOT say anything along the lines
of “because you don’t get food at home”)
WHAT
TO INCLUDE IN SNACK BAGS
§ Include
healthy items (When some of these students do get meals, their families buy
whatever is cheapest/easiest—fast foods, processed foods, etc.)
- Fruits
and veggies
- Easy
Mac
- Granola
- Soups
- Crackers
- Cheese
sticks
- Nuts
- NO
CANDY
§ Make
sure all bags are equal—the students will compare their bags and we don’t want
anyone feeling like they didn’t get as much as someone else.
§ Including
notes or other little items is also a great idea!! We can provide a list of the
students’ names upon request if you’d like individual label or decorate the
snack bags.
DIRECTIONS
TO HOMEWORK CLUBS
Nativity
§ Site
Leaders
- Katie
Costello (201-602-1754)
- Bryan
Hughes (401-527-3379)
- Matt
Peta (302-569-4144)
§ 321
Wyandotte Street
§ From
Alumni Memorial, take a right onto Brodhead Avenue and go North to Third
Street. At Third Street (at the corner where Perkin’s is located) take a left
and go straight up (bearing left, not right) to the light at 378. Go left at
the light and take an immediate left into the parking lot behind the Cathedral
Church of the Nativity. In the back left
corner of the parking lot, there is a steep hill down to a playground. Right by the playground is a door that leads
directly into the homework club room.
Fritz
§ Site
Leaders
- Erika
Davis (484-602-3214)
- Dan
Vari (215-771-6420)
§ 303
West Packer Ave
§ From
the Alumni Memorial Building, turn right onto and go north on Brodhead Avenue.
At the first stop sign, turn left onto Packer Ave. At the first stop sign, turn
right onto Montclair and, if necessary, park on the street or in the parking
lot at the back of the church. Go through the parking lot to the back of the
building and enter through the door that is up a few steps. This leads directly into the homework club
room
.
