Nourishing Young Lives: Seattle Eastside, WA
On February 10 2024, Sai Spiritual Education (SSE) children of the Sri Sathya Sai Centre of Seattle Eastside participated in a service project Pantry Packs organized by the Lake Washington School Foundation (LWSF).
The project provides food packs to more than 1000 food insecure students to bring home every weekend. On the day of the project, six SSE kids accompanied by their SSE teacher and seven parents, joined other members of the community to assemble more than 600 food packets containing nutritious items rich in protein, whole grains, fruit, vitamin D, high fiber, iron and calcium.
The entire process was very well organized. Volunteers formed two assembly lines and, in an orderly manner, packed items such as beans, fruit cups, granola bars, oatmeal, peanuts, milk, noodles, fruit squeezes, pudding cups and fruit rolls into a bag. They tied and placed the completed bags in large storage bins, on which the date of packing was written. The storage bins were all stacked, ready for distribution. The SSE students threw their heart into the task, worked with much enthusiasm, and efficiently assembled 600 bags in two hours.
The children reflected on the project, “We had such a wonderful experience working together to pack food for our fellow school-aged children. It was fun and interactive. I was so happy to know that the food was going to help children just like us. I am grateful for the opportunity". "I was so happy while doing this project and learnt a lot about selfless helping”.
The SSE children felt uplifted and overjoyed to know they were supporting the well-being of every student who received the pack, and that the food packs were not just filling their stomachs but also providing them with healthy nutritious food. The SSE children learned an invaluable lesson of the joy in working cooperatively as a team to help their fellow students in need. It was a simple effort to nourish young lives, one pack at a time.