Number of Participants: 30
Hours Donated: 6
Value of Time Served: $1,521
Event Type: Hunger
Sport: Schools
Date: May 4, 2017
Location:
8 Gerstein Street Croton-On-Hudson
New York 10520, United States
About:
When Croton-Harmon fourth-grade student Spencer Heath noticed his classmates throwing away untouched food at lunchtime, he brought his concerns to Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School Principal Kelly Maloney.
“A lot of people don’t have food, so we shouldn’t be throwing it away” said Heath, who worked with Maloney to form a student task force to tackle the issue. “Throwing away food is wasting hard work and money.”
Within a matter of days, more than 50 Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School second- through fourth-graders signed up to join the task force. The group came together for its first meeting on Jan. 20. Led by Maloney and Heath, the group discussed some of the ways to help curtail food waste – such as by allowing students to decline carrot sticks if they won’t eat them on chicken finger days and by discussing with their parents which foods they do not have time to eat during the school day.
Afterward, students discussed the types of roles task force members may take on to help spread their message. Roles discussed included poster makers who can create attractive literature to display around the school about minimizing food waste, researchers who can look up information about how food is made, ambassadors who can speak with classes in-person about the task force’s goals, performers and presenters who can write materials for a schoolwide assembly and/or skit and observers to keep an eye on food waste in the lunchroom.
Students were assigned to think about why they want to be on the task force and what roles they would like to take on before the next meeting.