It's Time to be a Nutrition Knight Once more we are partnering with Compassion International through our “Acting for Compassion” educational series, fundraiser, and Act Days. As in prior years, our National Beta Honors Club students have helped put this event together for us through their research and action. When living in chronic poverty, there is one need which overshadows all other things. Without clean water and good food, the foundation needed to break the cycle will crumble. Over the next few weeks, we will be diving deeper into this need, and how Compassion International provides a hand up with “Good Food, Good Life.” There will be videos, blogs, and amazing stories on how you can be a Nutrition Knight! Does your student still need to meet the high school Community Service hours requirement? When your student fully participates in Acting for Compassion “Nutrition Knights”, they can earn 24 community service hours by completing all of these steps: Read the daily lessons in the BLC and the attached links with videos Journal their daily thoughts - a couple of paragraphs each day Donate through Compassion’s Gift Catalog for the gift of your choice that will assist this endeavor or donate any amount to the fund to fight global hunger. Participate in our Act Days starting Friday, February 27th. Send a copy of the donation receipt and the journal entries to their advisor. Our goal is to donate over $1500 for “Good Food, Good Life!” DAY ONE: More Than Missing A Meal Think about your average school day. You wake up, get something to eat and drink, put on some clean clothes, brush your teeth, and then sit down to focus on your lessons. You also may have extracurricular activities, too. You can pause in the day to eat snacks, lunch and dinner before it is time for bed. Now imagine waking up and not having anything to eat or drink. Then walking to school, perhaps miles. Once there, you might not have anything to eat, yet you need to focus on your lessons and do well. You need to provide hope for your family. Once home, dinner is a simple dish of rice and half an egg. It’s not enough. This is food insecurity – a spoke in the wheel of chronic poverty. As Nutrition Knights, we need to learn more about this crisis and how it affects children around the world. Read the blogs, watch the video, and journal your thoughts on what you’ve learned. Understanding Food Insecurity What is Malnutrition? This is not Food DAY TWO: Growing Solutions Now that we know what food insecurity is, there are questions on what can be done about this big problem. So many gains had been made before the setbacks of the last five years. Compassion International, with the help of “Nutrition Knights” like you, are at the forefront of not just providing a hand-out, but a hand UP! Emergency food packs will fill empty stomachs and allow a child to develop properly. Then, the next steps start. Vegetable seeds, fruit trees, chicken, goats, and cows are given and families attend classes and are given guidance on best practices on everything from irrigation and fertilizer to creature care. They are taught business skills so they can both eat from what they grew or raised and also sell in a local marketplace, where they now have the funds to buy proper food for their family. The cycle of poverty breaks. Let’s learn more about this with the blogs and videos below. Journal your thoughts after. Brian’s Story A Simple Gift, A Big Impact The Littlest Ones DAY THREE: Unsafe Water Going back to the start of your normal day, what if you wanted something to drink? We just turn on the faucet for water, or reach into the refrigerator for tea, juice, or milk. After a long day of lessons, practice, and some downtime, a nice hot shower can happen before bedtime. There is a bathroom with all of your needs right there. Now, imagine not having running water in the house. It has to be carried in from a nearby stream or pond, maybe even an old stagnant well. What you bring back isn’t clear. It’s various shades of brown, dirty, not really safe, but it is all you have access to for bathing, cooking, and drinking. Often, the water makes you ill. There isn’t a bathroom, so find other solutions for getting washed up somewhat and your other needs. This is another spoke in the wheel of chronic poverty, that of unsafe water to drink, and lack of access to a clean water source for other needs. In today’s reading and videos, we are going to learn more about what that looks like. Don’t forget to journal your thoughts! A Water Crisis Facts about Unsafe Water Making a Change DAY FOUR: Hope Floats Yesterday was sad, learning about the unsafe water crisis. However, progress is being made globally to give others the gift of clean, safe water. Compassion International helps their project centers build wells, toilet blocks, and hygiene corners. They also distribute Water of Life buckets. This amazing water filter system lasts a person's lifetime and provides a whole house, plus neighboring ones, with clean water for drinking and cooking. It saves lives. Children are no longer sick from the water and can attend school regularly, gaining skills needed for a successful life. Adults are healthier, too. There is more hope as now both safe water and more nutritious and regular food have been secured. The cycle of poverty is breaking because of Nutrition Knights like you. Read today’s blogs and watch the videos to learn more. Journal your thoughts to turn in at the end of the week. Don’t forget your donation! Picture This A Community Changed Water of Life Program DAY FIVE: It’s Time to Act! Today starts our big Act Days! These activity options will help you get a small glimpse into the life of a child in poverty. If you are interested in earning Community Service hours credit for this event, you need to complete at least TWO of these options. Spend two nights sleeping on the floor with just a couple blankets or mats Explore recipes from all over the globe. Use a recipe like the ones in the Compassion Explorer magazine to try some ethnic foods. Check out this article about their favorite foods too! Use just 10 gallons of water for your entire household that day and the smallest amount of electricity. Better yet, use no electricity at all. Bike or walk everywhere you go for two days instead of driving Lay out a 10 x 10 space in your yard or in your house and try to figure out how a family of 4 could live in such a small space. Then graph it on paper. You can take it to the next level and try to stay in it for everything from cooking to schoolwork to bedtime and more. Make and serve meals to area homeless or assist in serving meals at a shelter Today is also where Holly, our Dual-Enrollment coordinator and long-time advisor shares about her Compassion experience. Her heart is big for the children who lost their first sponsors. These are usually teenagers who need someone to see them through to graduation from the program on their 22nd birthday. Here are two of those teenagers, as well as the child she saw from entry to graduation. The next post will be on how you can be a sponsor too. Asha – From age 7 to graduation she was “my girl.” Through letters, I encouraged her to work hard in school. She graduated from both high school and then college with a certificate in accounting! Early on, she taught her mom how to better manage her market stall with the goats and chickens Compassion gave them to raise on top of what her mother farmed. Efua – Is my shining star. She had fallen behind during COVID-19 but still graduated from high school. Not only that, but after a year of studying hard while balancing working as a seamstress, she passed her university entry exam and now has graduated from Compassion while in her final year of college to be a Health Services educator! Jose – This is my little special needs teenager. He hasn’t been able to attend school due to low scores and a large family disruption. A tutor works with him on the weekends, and he helps his mother out in a farm camp during the week. He works so hard, and through our letters, he says he now has hope – especially since his center now has him taking classes in a trade! DAY SIX: Wrapping Up It has been an incredible week learning how we can be Nutrition Knights and help children break the cycle of poverty. Today, we delve more into the overall holistic approach with Compassion International’s Child Sponsorship program. Ms. Holly has sponsored children for 30 years now and has so much to say about this organization, as she has consistently witnessed lives and entire communities transformed, but these videos sum it up nicely! What is Child Sponsorship? Does Child Sponsorship Work? Why You Should Sponsor a Child. For those looking to earn 24 community service hours, here is where we gather everything up and send it to your advisor. First – your journals from the week, including how you spent your Act Days. Also, send a copy of your donation receipt either from Compassion’s Gift Catalog for the gift of your choice that will assist this endeavor or donate any amount to the fund to fight global hunger. This is due by March 30th in order to be added to your transcript.
