Genius Hour - Week 1

Week 1 (Oct. 14, 2019)

After reading the quote by Mark Twain, I sat down and began to reflect on what are my true passions in life (aside from teaching), and within minutes, it became quite clear. My first passion lies in creativity. I like repurposing objects--turning “old things” into aesthetically pleasing, purposeful transformations. I love to draw, paint, and build things and devote my weekends to projects. 

Another passion I have revolves around ways to build up my community. I volunteer at the Chicago Food Depository a couple times a year, and the mission to end hunger in the Chicago region is something that has become of high interest to me. The junior high that I teach at hosts a food drive every year in the fall, and we have a food bank within out building that serves families within our district in Schaumburg, Elk Grove, and Hoffman Estates. I think when I started teaching, I learned just how serious and unfortunate the problem is with families struggling to put food on the table. It affects not only the family’s health, but the children’s ability to focus in school, as well as an emotional impact when a child feels food insecure. 

For my genius hour, I want to explore and learn more about the fight against hunger, specifically in the Chicago area. I want to educate myself and groups I am connected to (family, friends, coworkers) about the seriousness of hunger and why it is a cause worth fighting for. Additionally, by the end of my genius hour, I’d like to rally a group of friends and family members who will commit to volunteering a Saturday of their time to volunteer at the Chicago Food Depository with me. I think once they have this experience, it will not only make a positive impact for our community, but for them as individuals as well.

This week, I began researching statistics and information about the types of groups who suffer from hunger and food insecurity. The Greater Chicago Food Depository’s website contains lots of useful information on the topic, and I learned that 1 in 7 people in Cook County currently experience food insecurity. The Food Depository serves more than 213,100 households each year, and many households who are food insecure do not qualify for federal nutrition assistance programs. Furthermore, although we know poverty and food insecurity are often linked, many people living above the poverty level remain food insecure--this may be due to factors such as “unemployment, lack of access to transportation and health problems.”

Learning these statistics was quite alarming to me, and although I knew hunger was a huge problem Cook County faces, I now feel more knowledgeable about the situation--and more eager to keep learning and to do something about it. Moving into the next couple weeks, I plan to pick a date to plan a group outing to the Food Depository, make a list of people to invite, and with my interest in creativity, design posters centered around the statistics of hunger in order to spread awareness (and hopefully convince people to join my volunteer group).

Sources:

https://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/hunger-in-our-community/