They may not be Wolfgang Puck, but the students of the Hoboken Charter School did spend most of last week preparing a simple dinner of bread and soup to raise awareness and money for the homeless of Hoboken.
“If I was homeless,” said ninth grader Judi Hosein as she helped bake cookies Wednesday, “I could only hope that there would be people to help me out.”
Hosein and the students of the Hoboken Charter School spent the week making soup, baking bread and painting decorative bowls for the second annual ‘Empty Bowl’ benefit for the Hoboken Clergy Coalition Shelter. The event, which was scheduled to be held Saturday, March 25, raised funds by allowing local residents to buy a student-prepared meal of bread, soup, and desert. In addition to receiving a meal, participants could take home one of the student-made bowls designed for the event.
The Hoboken Charter School was founded by parents, educators and local residents four years ago with community service in mind. Located on the third floor of Demarest Middle School at Fourth and Garden streets, the school was designed to integrate classroom learning with experience-based education.
“[Homelessness] can be invisible,’ said the Hoboken Charter School’s faculty coordinator, Stacey Gruber, last Wednesday. “It’s not as obvious as all the new condos that are being built or the traffic on Washington Street. But Hoboken does have its share of homeless and we want to make people aware of that. That’s why people are able to take their bowls home. Every time they look at them they will be reminded that there are people that are less fortunate than themselves here in town.”
Students of the pre-K through 12th grade school all pitched in to make sure everything was ready to go by Saturday. Whether it was fourth graders putting the final touches on hand painted bowls Tuesday, or high schoolers spending Wednesday chopping vegetables for the soup, or fifth graders baking fresh bread, all the students helped in the preparation.
“It’s been fun,” said ninth grader Crystal Roman from the kitchen of the shelter last week. “The shelter is not the kind of place that I would normally walk into by myself. Events like this are motivation to get involved.”
“The [Hoboken Charter School] does so much,” said Hoboken resident and 15 year volunteer at the shelter Mark Singleton. “Not only do they raise money, they also goes a long way to increase community awareness about the shelter. People don’t think that Hoboken has a homeless problem, but we have often have to turn away people cause there isn’t enough space.”
The shelter is two-pronged in the services that it provides. It is open seven days a week for dinner, where 70 to 80 guests are provided a meal. The shelter also provides lodging for 30 to 35 people every night.
Also planned for this year for the Saturday event was the unveiling of a student painted mural measuring 15 by 14 feet, which is now a permanent installation at the shelter.
Proceeds raised by the event are to be matched by the New Jersey Coalition for Service learning. Last year’s event raised $4,000 for the shelter.
The shelter is always looking for volunteers to help paint and maintain the facilities, and to aid in the serving of meals from 6 to 8:30 p.m. They are also accepting contributions of money, clothes and leftovers from parties and entertainment functions. For more information on how to help, contact Sister Norberta at 656-5069.