1. Everything a person needs, he/she already has.
2. The more a person’s intelligence is focused on building constructive relationships, the more that person and their community will grow.
3. When people find something in themselves they can believe in, and are able to understand and think critically about what confronts them, they can become agents of positive change.

We came across Tribe One this fall when Sarah Cohen, Tribe One’s AmeriCorps volunteer, contacted us to introduce the organization. As Sarah explained, Tribe One was founded in 1991 to help under-served youth develop as leaders and attain economic self-sufficiency. Since then, they have provided youth from East Knoxville a safe and structured place to come during after-school hours. Students receive help with school work, participate in after-school classes, and learn business skills through Tribe One’s screen-printing enterprise.

Sarah let us know that Tribe One was interested in using What’s On Your Plate? materials as a part of its holistic health programming, which focuses students on the health of the mind, body and spirit. Tribe One integrates hands-on activities in their urban garden and kitchen to teach kids about issues of sustainability and nutrition. Here at What’s On Your Plate?, we know the importance of valuing your body and the planet, so we were thrilled by Tribe One‘s request!

In support of Tribe One’s interest in What’s On Your Plate? media, we selected them as one of the recipient organizations for our holiday bundle initiative. We hope you will join us in supporting Tribe One’s mission: to empower youth from Knoxville to be independent leaders, creating community and effecting positive change by buying a bundle. Please choose Tribe One in the organization drop-down menu to designate a donation for their work!

Sarah Jerasa’s 4th and 5th grade class project on homelessness and hunger awareness at The Project School in Bloomington, Indiana, is a recipient of the What’s On Your Plate? Buy a Bundle – Give a Bundle Initiative.

Just a few weeks ago, we received a letter from Sarah Jerasa, one of the teachers in a combined 4th and 5th grade classroom at The Project School, a charter school in Bloomington, Indiana. She inquired about hosting a screening of What’s On Your Plate? this December on behalf of her students. She wrote: “Our students and school are truly passionate about working towards making change in our community and reaching out to other communities. I think our work would be really inspiring for others to see.” We are always looking for passionate kids like Sadie, Safiyah and Oliver, who are devoted to affecting positive social, political and environmental change. We did some research and found that The Project School’s mission and Ms. Jerasa’s class proposal were perfectly in line with our goals!

 

 

 

The Project School and What’s On Your Plate?  share a commitment to inspiring kids to engage with issues that directly impacts their lives. The Project School describes their school curriculum as, “project-based, problem-based, and place-based” and “directly connected to issues in their local and global communities.”

Ms. Jerasa’s current class project focuses on issues that What’s On Your Plate? is very much concerned with: addressing homelessness and hunger on a local and global scale. When Ms. Jerasa wrote to us, the class had already watched What’s On Your Plate? and performed the calorie experiment from the film. Her class was so excited by the experience, they decided they would like to host a public screening of What’s On Your Plate? to raise funds to support the following hunger-focused initiatives:

- Funding a well for a village in Africa to provide clean water
- Donating an animal for a community through the Heifer International Organization
- Donating medical supplies and food to local shelters in their community.

The Project School’s focus on community engagement, and the student-led campaign to address homelessness and hunger motivated us to include Ms. Jerasa’s class project in our Holiday Buy a Bundle – Give a Bundle Initiative. We have no doubt The Project School will make amazing use of the What’s On Your Plate? bundles they receive. We hope you will join us in supporting Ms. Jerasa’s 4th and 5th grade class project on homelessness and hunger awareness!