#HashtagLunchbag

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

The Student Education Association (SEA) at Governors State University (GSU) completed a community service project on Tuesday, October 24, 2017. The event, #HashtagLunchbag, was sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Education Association (IEA). The event was organized and led by Stephanie Henning, Brianna Fabsits, and Dr. Katy Hisrich. #Hashtag Lunchbag is a nationwide humanity service movement dedicated to empowering and inspiring people by showing the benefits of paying it forward. The #HashtagLunchbag event was a great community outreach opportunity for all students, faculty, and staff to make a difference in their community.

Our team used funds from the IEA grant to purchase supplies for the lunches. Additionally, we collected over $150.00 worth of food and supplies from faculty, staff, and students at GSU. Students and faculty used an assembly line to make a variety of sandwiches (turkey, ham, PB&J), as well as bag the lunches with snacks and dessert. Notes with positive messages written by students were included in the lunch bags.

More than 250 bagged lunches were created and donated to both a local homeless and domestic violence shelter. Half of the lunches were donated to South Suburban PADS in Country Club Hills, located at 4411 West Gatling Blvd. This is a nonprofit organization established in 1990 as a response to the growing number of homeless individuals and families in Chicago’s south suburbs. They have served over 15,000 men, women, and children by providing shelter, housing units, support services, and employment services. The other half of the lunches were donated to Bethel Family Resource Center, located at 1250 Portland Avenue in Chicago Heights. This organization was formed to strengthen low-income families by providing the tools needed to have an improved quality of life and become economically stable and self-sufficient. The shelter offers a day care center, medical clinic, pharmacy, and study rooms. These establishments assist individuals and families as they work towards improving their living conditions.

Visit the website at https://www.hashtaglunchbag.org for more information on this organization. To view photos of the event, visit the SEAatGSU Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SEAatGSU/ and the SEAatGSU website at https://seaatgsu.wordpress.com/.

~Story written by Jessica Dunahoo

Hands Out to Build Up! #SEAatGSU theme for AY17-18