Students at the Hoboken Charter School are working nearly around the clock to throw a different kind of party on Saturday, April 8. Long after the last school bell has rung, dozens of students have remained at their desks designing place mats, putting the finishing touches on homemade bowls and writing up invitations for a school-sponsored event that they hope will raise between $3,000 and $6,000 for homeless people in the area. The event, which will take place during lunchtime at the Hoboken Clergy Coalition Shelter for the Homeless, will raise funds by asking residents to purchase $6 tickets for a student-prepared meal that will be served at the party. The party will occur at the shelter, located at Third and Bloomfield streets. In addition to receiving a meal consisting of bread, soup and dessert, ticket purchasers will also have an opportunity to take home one of 300 student-made bowls designed especially for the event. “We’re calling this the Empty Bowl Event,” said Curtis Rivera, a fourth grader who voluntarily stayed after school Tuesday afternoon to put more time into the party preparations. “That’s because we want people to take one of our bowls home with nothing in it. That way they can think about the people who don’t have enough to eat.” In between typing out invitations to the event on the school’s computers and marbleizing place mats for the meal, Rivera took time out to review the massive collection of bowls already assembled in the back of the school’s art room. Students have stockpiled an eclectic collection of bowls there made with a dizzying array of techniques ranging from decoupage to self-drying clay to papier-mache. “They’re all beautiful,” said Rivera, ever the salesman of his school’s event, as he held up the bowl he had made. School administrators have been impressed with the enthusiasm that students have shown in helping with the preparations. “I think I created a bit of a safety hazard because I originally said that only eight kids could stay after school and help work on the event,” said Jill Singleton, the school’s co-coordinator. “They needed to get permission slips from their parents and I said that the first eight in could stay and help. The next day they nearly ran each other over trying to get to my office with their slips. So I said ‘yes’ to all of them. You just can’t say ‘no’ to kids who want to help that bad.” Rivera and his classmates are not alone in their efforts to provide assistance to the homeless. In addition to the students’ efforts at the Charter School, the All Saints-supported Homework Club is preparing a dessert for the event, and some students from Connors Primary School are making bowls. Dozens of schools across New Jersey will also be participating with empty bowls events in April, thanks in part to the New Jersey Coalition for Service Learning, a non-profit organization that has offered to provide matching donations for every dollar that New Jersey schools raise through empty bowl events. “Raising funds is not the only goal of this project,” said Singleton. “We also want to raise awareness about the shelter and what it is like to be homeless. People who come to the event will stand in line just like a homeless person does before the meal. They will sit in the same chairs and have an opportunity to really see what being a part of that is like.” While the students work to put the event together, they are also learning about homelessness in the classroom. In the weeks leading up to the April 8 event, students will be exposed to a hunger and homelessness curriculum designed around questions like the meaning of “home” and what goes into making judgements about people you encounter in everyday life. They are also learning about what goes into putting an event like this together. Several students wrote to Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, Mayor Anthony Russo and other public officials inviting them to the student-prepared meal. “Frequently learning in schools involves answering questions at the end of a book,” explained Singleton. “We are a service learning school and we wanted kids to have an opportunity to see how things actually get done in the real world.” But when all is said and done, it appears to be the students’ individual experiences with people who are homeless that has motivated them. “I’m doing this to make sure that homeless people have enough to eat,” said Zoe Anthony, a fourth grader whose father, David, is the Board of Education president and operates a fast food restaurant in Sinatra Park. “There is a homeless person who always comes down to my dad’s restaurant looking for something to eat. I want to do something to help her and make sure she has what she needs.” Call 963-0222 x223 for more information about the event.
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