GHS English teacher, Mandi Henderson took her all-boys grade 9 applied English class to the Gravenhurst Supper Club in November for some community outreach. This supper club is actually a soup kitchen for needy folks in the community. The boys are studying a book called ‘Shattered’ that involves the main characters interacting in and around a soup kitchen. The GHS students helped to prepare a meal for 90 guests – the help was very much appreciated by Val Ceschia – the organizer of the Gravenhurst Supper Club. The gents did well and worked their ‘buns off’ for 2 hours preparing a beef stew. The boys also had previously prepared questions about the Gravenhurst Supper Club to ask Val – based upon situations that occurred in the novel.
Here are comments about the experience from some of the boys who participated:
“I felt good about going on this trip because I didn’t even know that Gravenhurst had a soup kitchen. If someone asked me to work at the Supper Club again I would probably say yes because I had fun on this experience and would know I am needed.”
“I would go there on my own time because it is fun there and it’s making a difference. Last week we were making a huge difference for the poorer people in Gravenhurst. I really enjoyed my role there…after I got back I was pretty sad because I had to go back to catch my bus to go home. I enjoyed it a lot and want to go back and do hours there at the Supper Club”
“At first I wasn’t looking forward to going to the “The Supper Club” because I thought it would be boring, mostly watching and setting tables. But as soon as we got there we were put in the kitchen where we prepared food. I really enjoyed it. It was fun to help people and it was fun making food. I found it really relaxing actually.”
“I would like to volunteer there a lot because I’d like to get my community service hours for high school”
“I was very excited about going to a soup kitchen and it was better than I thought I would be! It was fun and a good experience. I think our class was a big help and made those who got a day off volunteering happy.”
“My feeling after I left the soup kitchen was really happy!…If there is a time when I ever can go back I will definitely!”
“I felt good about going to the soup kitchen because I knew I was doing something good for someone. I thought my experience would be like boring but I was wrong. It was fun because everyone was laughing lots….I think I would volunteer there again to get hours for school but to also help out by getting food prepared for people that can’t afford to eat.”
“I did think it would be a cool thing to do. I never did anything like that because I would never have thought to help at a soup kitchen.”
“Some of the things that I liked about the Supper Club are that it was lots of fun in the kitchen and everyone was doing their jobs. I thought that they would only get 12-15 people, but instead there was like 80-90 people that go there! If I rated this field trip out of 10 for our class I would say that we would have a 9 because we all worked very hard and had a lot of fun while doing it as well”
