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6th Grade Stewardship

(October 28, 2022) Sixth grade’s stewardship focus this year is hunger. They have several activities planned throughout the year that lead up to their final project, the Hunger Feast. To kick things off, they are organizing a food drive for November 7-11, 2022.

Four students, Sloan Cranford, Calvin Cusack, Chloe Dean and Harper Kobler, gave up three recess days to create a PowerPoint slide show that will be presented to all classrooms on November 4. All sixth graders will be a part of presenting the slides made by these four classmates.

Each day of the drive has a special theme. “Mrs. Murphy and Mrs. (Sally) Kincaid gave us the subject for each day and then we put together the presentation. The themes are Macaroni Monday, Toiletry Tuesday, Cleaning Supplies, Fruits and Vegetables, and Boxed Foods,” explained Harper.

Sloan explained that cleaning supplies can be “Anything that can be used to clean. Wet wipes, sponges, Clorox spray.”

When talking about the presentation, Chloe shared “I’m really excited to present to the younger kids. I want to see how they react to the fun things we put in the slides.” Sloan went on to say, “I’m not really nervous about presenting to other kids. I feel like no matter what, they’re going to be nice because it’s for a good cause.”

Students should place donation items in their classroom boxes, provided by 6^th grade. “Every classroom collects their stuff and then we (6^th graders) will go around during our recess time and pick it up,” said Calvin.

All of the students remembered the food drive from past years, either because they had older siblings involved in the drive or because they themselves brought in items. “When I was younger I remember going to WalMart and picking up things with my family,” said Chloe.

During past drives, the students recalled seeing classrooms bring in anywhere from two to 50 items each in one day. “We hope we’ll get a lot of pieces, I mean we have 500 kids here at school,” said Sloan. Added Chloe, “Sometimes it’s kind of like an unspoken battle between classmates and classes.”

To get the students thinking about service and what it means, they recently completed a group presentation answering questions such as what is service and how can we show it. They then presented to their classmates using videos, slide shows, posters, songs, raps, and commercials. All four students agreed that the assignment was fun and interesting.

The entire 6^th grade will deliver the school’s donations to Sophia’s Kitchen on November 18. This includes packing the vehicles with the items, and then unpacking and bringing items inside at the kitchen. “I’m really excited to bring everything to Sophia’s Kitchen,” said Sloan. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been there.”

On October 27, Dominica Rogers from Midwest Food Bank came to St. Philomena to talk to the 6th grade on food insecurities, food deserts and hunger. Sixth graders will take a field trip to the Midwest Food Bank on December 2 for hands-on experience in what happens at the Food Bank and to gain an understanding of what service is really about. After Christmas break, Mrs. Murphy and Mrs. Kincaid will kick-off the Hunger Feast with the students and really begin preparing for the spring event.

“We’re excited to host the Hunger Feast again. It’s truly something they will remember for the rest of their lives. To see students actually plan and execute this event, it’s such a beautiful project,” said Mrs. Murphy.