BHS Event Helps Hungry
On Saturday, December 12, the Holiday Meal took place in the Berkeley High School cafeteria.
The Holiday Meal, which feeds the homeless of Berkeley and its surrounding areas, is an event organized and run by the BHS Leadership with the help of numerous volunteers. The meal is held annually in the BHS cafeteria from 7:30 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon. The BHS Leadership Team spent the afternoon on Friday, December 11, preparing the meal, and then returned to school Saturday morning to prepare to serve the 400–500 homeless who showed up to take part in the event. Food was served at noon.
The goal of the Holiday Meal is “to do something where you acknowledge their existence, instead of saying ‘sorry,’” explained Chris Young, the director of Student Activities. “It’s a different tone of voice. It’s a message about joining us and being part of this community. Holiday Meal is a full on service about helping people who could staff writerclearly need a lift.” The Leadership Team spent three weeks preparing for the day of the meal; making sure that the facility will be open and available on that day, providing notice to the general population, and obtaining enough food and volunteers for the event.
A crucial part of preparation for this meal was the canned food drive, which took place at BHS from November 24 to December 10. On December 10, Leadership members ran from classroom to classroom collecting the many cans donated. “We use some of the canned food and the rest we give to the shelters,” explained Brianna Hedemann, Leadership Team member and BHS sophomore. The class that donated the most canned food to this cause won a pizza party, an incentive the Leadership Team hoped would motivate students. Many parents and volunteers donated homemade food ingredients, as well as money. Local businesses, such as Acme Bread Co., donated all of their left over bread from Friday.
A few local grocers also donated some of their products.Both the BHS Orchestra and Jazz Band performed at the event so that attendees would have entertainment as they ate and waited in lines going out the door. BHS leadership had many aspects of the community engaged in the event.
There were three shifts of volunteers who ran the Holiday Meal. On the Friday before the event volunteers, known as the “Friday Funsters,” began food preparation from 4:30–9 PM. “We are going to be cooking, making sure things are moving,” said Quan Tran, another sophomore leadership member. On Saturday, December 12 at 7:30 AM, the “Early Birds” set up the area and began serving food to the hundreds of hungry homeless already in line waiting for the meal. By noon the “Homestretch Heroes” had taken over. At 4:30 PM, the “Heroes” had the BHS cafeteria just as it was before the “Friday Funsters” began preparations. Every shift of volunteers had specific task jobs that equally contributed to the event’s success.
This year a huge turnout was expected. “I think there will be more people this year because of unemployment rates and the economy,” Tran explained.
“The homeless shelters are overflowing this year,” added Hedemann. The leadership team informed the community in order to make the Holiday Meal more well-known and ensure such a high turnout. “We go around to homeless shelters and to the park and hand out flyers. Anyone from leadership who sees someone on the street asking for money tells them about it,” Hedemann explained of some of the many ways they inform the community.
On the day of the Holiday Meal, volunteers were sent to Shattuck and Telegraph to hand out flyers. Ten or so volunteers went out onto the streets and returned to tell about a range of different reactions from the people out there on the street. “We went to the Berkeley Free Clinic on Telegraph where they were serving a holiday meal already: a breakfast. We gave the volunteers flyers and told them about the Holiday Meal at BHS,” reported junior Chanavie Bun, member of leadership.
“We told the volunteers there to make an announcement to the people,” said Alejandra Pedroza, another junior on the leadership team.
On the streets Carla Garcia, another junior on the leadership, described a few different reactions. “There were some people who were offended and didn’t want to take the flyers,” she said, “but most were very thankful and had already known about the event.”
“There weren’t as many homeless people out because it [was] raining,” Raymok Ketenna, a junior volunteer, explained.
“It was also hard because you didn’t really know who was homeless and who wasn’t. We just handed them out to anyone who looked like they could be,” she added.
In leadership, this is considered an important and meaningful activity. Taking part in this event is not required to the leadership team, but “if you are in leadership, you are expected to because leadership is about service; it’s about helping people,” Young said. “The thing that homeless people say is the worst, is the feeling [of] being invisible, being less than a person.”
There are many different reactions and attitudes of those working and helping out at the Holiday Meal. “It’s really fun,” explained Hedemann. “Last year we had some guys dancing with his pie. It’s fun for them, but it is really fun for us.”
“This has been a fun experience. I learned how to give back, do community service, and work as part of a group,” said Will Wilson, a junior on the leadership team.
“It was a very rewarding experience because you got to see the expressions on the faces of those who are less fortunate than you, expressions of joy,” said Daniel Mack Jr., a senior on leadership. Every person at the Holiday Meal had their own experiences, one that they built for themselves.
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