In the process of getting our children to understand the importance of treasuring the food we have, we would also like them to be actively involved in giving back to the local communities and those in need using their own resources. This builds self-esteem and promotes a better feeling about helping out others who are in need.
To kickstart the project, we invited National Environment Agency (NEA) to speak and share with the children about the topic on food wastage.
The children gained awareness on food wastages issues in Singapore and learnt about practical tips on how they can help reduce food waste and save money too!
For the children to be involved in giving back to the local communities and those in need, we came up with a Mission Chart where the children are to accomplish certain tasks daily for two weeks in order to ‘earn’ one food item, which will be then donated to the seniors who are living in rental units under the Lions Befrienders service boundary as an act of kindness.
In school, the children also drew and shared about how they can go about ‘saving’ food, with their own efforts. Some shared about looking past the imperfection of food. Odd-looking, bruised and blemished fruits and vegetables can be trimmed and used for cooking too! And they also mentioned that people can check their kitchen or fridge before going grocery shopping.
The children worked hard to fill up their Mission Chart, and at the end of two weeks, they presented the chart to the teachers.
The parents were very much supportive of the project and we gathered many food items. The children then moved on to the next step - sorting the food items.
They differentiated the items into different categories - biscuits, milo powder, canned food and instant noodles.
The children also decorated the boxes by drawing pictures that were pasted on the boxes.
As a token of appreciation, the children created a gift by contributing their fingerprints on the “Giving Hearts” painting.
On the day of the visit (11 May 2017), the children prepared sandwiches for the seniors, with the help of our parent support group. The children divided out the task - spreading the jam and butter, and placing the bread together before cutting it.
The children served breakfast to the seniors and it was a great time for the children and old folks to interact and mingle.
Our Parent Support Group then presented the “Boxes of Love” to the Lions Befrienders’ in-charge.
The children also came up to hand over the token of appreciation!
