Caroline Knightly, Reporter
@knightlycourant
Some children wake up every morning free to contemplate a variety of options for their daily meals. However, in towns as close as Norwalk and Stamford, this is not the case. Sophomore, Charlotte Pratt, has decided to make a difference in the lives of children with limited access to food, through her club, Cooking for a Cause.
In the fall, Charlotte, and sophomores Caroline Leeber, Caitlin Hevesy and Charlotte Craig, created Cooking for Cause, which focuses on baking and cooking meals for homeless children living at Inspirica. “I felt like they deserved something nicer than what they were getting in their day to day life,” Charlotte Pratt said.
Participants of this club gather in the Foods and Nutrition room to make items, such as brownies, cupcakes and cookies. “Each team has a different recipe and all the ingredients are on one central table,” Charlotte Pratt said. “The groups then gather everything they need and start baking.”
After baking, students travel to the homeless shelter, Inspirica, where they will give the kids prepared meals. “We package all the food and one of the leaders will drive to Inspirica with an adult and 4 other participants in the club to deliver it.” Charlotte Pratt said.
In addition to cooking, students form relationships with the children and try to make them feel comfortable during the NCHS visits. “We hope that everyone create bonds with the kids because it’s really important to see them and see how we impact them with what we do,” Charlotte Pratt said.
Student members, like sophomore Grace Manges, hope to make a difference while also enjoying themselves and baking holiday treats. “By actually creating something you can give is a really great way to make a difference and enjoy yourself at the same time,” Grace said.
While visiting Inspirica, students can see the positive impact they have on the children. “I love Inspirica and have been there a few times, so I know how happy the kids are when we get there to play and talk with them,” Grace said.
Another club which cooks for those in need is Filling in the Blanks, which raises money for kids who receive only one meal a day per week through their school lunch program. Sophomores Grace Brown, Maggie DeFrancesco and Andrew Knight brought this organization to NCHS and aim to follow the organizations goal of feeding. “
The main focus of the club is to raise money for food to give kids on the weekend,” Andrew said. “We do bake sales in the school during lunch and last Sunday, Maggie, Courtney, and Grace sat outside of Walter Stewarts and collected money for the food.”
Filling in the Blanks creators, Shawnee Knight and Tina Kramer teamed up with schools across Fairfield County, including NCHS, to feed children in the community who are deprived of daily meals. “We are focused on providing kids in our area in need with meals on the weekends and throughout the summer when they don’t have the schools free reduced lunch program,” Ms. Knight said.
Ms. Knight hopes to spread awareness to the issue of children lacking access to food in towns nearby New Canaan. “We want to get kids in our community involved,” Ms. Knight said. “This will give them an opportunity to become aware of the fact that kids in their neighboring towns or kids they play against on sports teams are in need of food.”
Ms. Knight and Ms. Kramer were inspired by their own life experiences when they created this organization in February 2013. “We were helping them out of our own pocket and working with a national organization,” Mrs. Knight said. “We found that it was a nice way to give back knowing that we both grew up under tougher circumstances as well.”
To bring more attention to the organization, Maggie made an effort to turn Filling in the Blanks into a club at NCHS. “The club members and I just want to bring this organization into a bigger atmosphere where we can get many students involved to raise more money for the food,” Maggie said. “It would be so great to give the kids a better opportunity and give them food so they can get their nutrition on weekends when they don’t have food provided for them.”
Many students feel that the club is a significant addition to NCHS. “This club is important and needed to be at NCHS because there are many people in the high school who want to help and care about kids in need like this,” Andrew said. Andrew, Grace, and Maggie hope to bring more attention to the issue of starving children in nearby towns, providing them with the necessary nutrients throughout the school week and weekend.
