This year, Tracy Anderson, the journalism teacher at CHS for over 20 years, and Hannah Crabtree, a newer art teacher hoping to get more involved with the community, partnered with Sue Nishi, the director of the breakfast program at St. Andrews, to get Community students involved in the St.Andrews’s breakfast program.
St. Andrews has been running its breakfast program to feed the homeless and people in need since 1982. The program started when Michigan was one of the states hardest hit by a national economic recession. Its unemployment rate was one of the highest in the country. A small community of volunteers then got together to serve breakfast to those in need. Since 1982, the program has grown so much; not only do they still serve breakfast but they also have a variety of canned food, snack bags and to-go meals available.
Tracy Anderson used to volunteer at St. Andrews before the pandemic. She would go with some of her students on Fridays to serve breakfast from seven to seven fifty-five before school. Anderson recalled that before coming to volunteer, she never realized just how many people got breakfast from St. Andrews.
“I was standing next to Sue Nishi,” Anderson said.“we started kind of brainstorming different ways that Community High could be involved and getting that breakfast program going again.”
Hannah Crabtree was quick to get involved in the process.
“I think volunteering is really important and a big part of being engaged with your local community,” Crabtree said. “Being newer to this school and not living in Ann Arbor, I’m still getting to learn more about this area and continuing to meet different people around school and neighbors and stuff like that. Given the proximity of how close the space is to our school, it seems silly not to have a good standing relationship with them.”
Nishi and Anderson talked through how they could get Community students to volunteer for the program and other ways that Community could support St. Andrews.
“They really need socks, backpacks and waterproof backpacks, so people have a place to put their things,” Anderson said. “St Andrews could use trash pickup, because sometimes there’s just a lot of trash that’s kind of leftover, and it goes down the block, so just doing trash pickup would really help.”
To form their own opinions on this program, Izzy Santiago and Maggie Lamb decided to sign up on Wednesday, Nov 20, to see what it was like. Making them the first students to volunteer. There, they got to meet with Sue Nishi personally and learn more about the program.
“I’ve been the director of the breakfast program since September of 2023, but I started volunteering in March of 2023, and from the very first day I loved it,” Nishi explained. “I’ve always loved food service and feeding people. I have done a lot of volunteering, and all the volunteer work I’ve done centers around food.”
Volunteering for any cause, in any form you are able, is always amazing. Nishi explained to them why it’s so important to give back to our community in opportunities where you can be face-to-face with the people you are helping.
“You’ll see them when you’re downtown,” Nishi said. “It just feels like you’re really helping in your community, and you know who you’re helping and the difference it makes. It makes it more personal.”
“I think that carries over when you go and volunteer with Food gatherers, or organize a drive for this,” Nishi explained. “If you’ve been in here and you see who these people are, and you see them coming in in the morning and asking for things they need, you realize they’ve been standing outside all night because they don’t have shelter or whatever it is. It’s just more impactful.”
After a quick tour of the kitchen and storage spaces, they got to work. Serving beans and corn up in the kitchen, it was a special experience to personally see the people affected by St. Andrews breakfast and how they were directly supporting them. There were around 30-40 people coming into breakfast, with a range of different ages. All kinds of different foods were being served. At the hot station, which switches each day, the menu featured a selection of grits and oatmeal, chicken, potatoes, cornbread, green beans and corn. Lined up on tables surrounding the dining area included different kinds of bread, cereal, juices and other types of stereotypical breakfast items.
From the familiarity and warmth that the other volunteers greeted them with, by name and followed up with regular conversation, you could see the comfortability seep into their expressions. They were able to witness the connections and support systems formed through this program firsthand.
“They’re really nice people,” Nishi recalled. “You’ll see there’s some mental health challenges going on in the room and then there’s people who are way in the stages of addiction, and you just kind of get a window into what is going on in their society.”
In total, it took the volunteers 50 minutes out of the morning to make someone else’s life better. Such a small act from them was so impactful on the people they helped. The relief displayed on their faces once they set their eyes on a warm meal was enough to convince the two volunteers that this would definitely not be their last time volunteering at the breakfast program.
We highly encourage other students at Community to try and get out to volunteer. A quick, convenient and rewarding experience to volunteer for seems hard to turn down.
If you’re interested in volunteering for St. Andrews Breakfast Program sign up here:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4EAAAA23A7F9C52-53284001-breakfast/4891567#/
