Baking with a Purpose
At a recent school assembly, Miquon launched a school-wide action project in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and based on the book Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
We read the book at an all-school assembly last year and were inspired by how it shows that there are many different ways to be an upstander and agent of change (our 10th Tenet). It is the true story of how Georgia Gilmore mobilized a group of women to cook and bake as a fundraising effort in support of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She saw a need and put her talent in the kitchen to good use for others. Among other things, Ms. Gilmore showed us that everyone has something to contribute.
For our project, we’re working with InKind Baking Project, an organization started in Philadelphia in January 2017 to organize volunteer bakers from all over the city to bake for their neighbors as a sign of welcome, community, and solidarity, including birthday cakes for families staying in a homeless shelter, cookies for refugees, cupcakes for ESL classes, and muffins for immigration clinics.
Each of our grade band groups will pick an organization from InKind’s online list, then spend class time baking according to the organization’s needs. Mark and Cynthia’s 5/6 group has already decided to work with Franny Lou’s Porch.
Not only will the kids have this community-building experience to help others and learn about philanthropy, but our teachers will incorporate other learning into these baking sessions – reading recipes, learning measurements, and learning how to collaborate as a team.
The project also syncs well with some of this year’s theme studies, for example Food and Family in the 1/2 grade band and with the 5/6 Lunch Sale where students already bake a weekly batch of brownies to sell as a fundraiser for their year-end class trip.
In future assemblies, students will report on their chosen organization, the community it serves, and the baking projects they did to support their organization’s mission. We’ll keep you posted in future blog entries.
