The faculty, staff, and students at Avenues: The World School are committed supporters of Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen. Katrina Rowe, one of their 6th-grade teachers, wrote this article about her experience volunteering at and working with the Soup Kitchen. Thank you for your support!
Community Engagement Faculty Spotlight: Katrina Rowe
When the COVID-19 pandemic closed the school just before spring break we moved to virtual learning. During this incredibly difficult time, I set u pa club for 7th graders to create a product they could sell online to raise money for a cause they cared about in our community. In the meetings, we had to discuss what cause they would like to raise money for and the 7th graders really wanted to choose a place that was helping those that were struggling to access food, clothing and other support during the pandemic. Through meetings with Morgan Jones, the group decided that they really wanted to support the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen. The Avenues Charity Ventures Team worked incredibly hard to product ‘The Board Book‘ which is a collection of recipes, arts and crafts, and puzzles to help keep families busy as we were increasingly spending more time at home. I am so proud of the team for raising $6,015 for the soup kitchen.
When Avenues finished for the summer, I was lucky enough to see how incredible the soup kitchen is in person. I spent six weeks packing lunches, helping with social services, bagging food, and helping with the food pantry service. I was completely blown away by the amazing operation the soup kitchen is running to help serve as many people as possible in New York City. All the volunteers I met were incredible and really supported one another to make sure we could help and serve the guests in the best possible way. It was lovely to get to know the regular guests and to be able to care for them during a time when we really needed to come together to support one another. As a British citizen, I have not been able to travel back to the UK since last December due to travel restrictions. The volunteers and staff at the soup kitchen made me feel so welcome and it was such a privilege to be part of a team supporting our community in a city I now call home.
Since Avenues has been back in session, I still volunteer on a Thursday afternoon for the food pantry service. I told my 6th grade pod and they wanted to do something for the children who come to the soup kitchen with their parents. As it was the holiday season, we bagged up individually wrapped pieces of candy and attached homemade holiday cards. During our walk the day before we left for the Thanksgiving break, we stopped outside of the soup kitchen and handed our gifts to the staff who were packing up the lunch service, and getting ready for the food pantry. The staff was so grateful for our pod’s gift, and in turn, our pod reflected on how thankful they were for a roof over their heads, good health, friends, and family as well as the food that would be on the table, on Thanksgiving Day.
