Service Learning Project Reflection

For the past six years I have worked at my district’s After-School Tutoring Program at Pinnacle Apartments in Houston, Texas. This program was established to assist lower income students by giving them free tutoring and extension activities at their apartment complex. Providing this opportunity helps to bridge the home-to-school connection, impacting over forty students per year. Most of the students in the program receive free or reduced breakfast and lunch. Due to their socio-economic status, these students often go hungry over the holidays because their parents don’t have enough money to provide additional meals while students are out of school. In an effort to assist in this area, I approached my pastor to see if we could provide a bag of groceries for each of the families who attend the tutoring program. Being the compassionate man that he is, Pastor Johnny from The Body Church, Texas, loved the idea and shared the opportunity within our church community and online. …show more content…
I created a grocery list and developed a tentative budget. We wanted each family to have enough meals to feed the students breakfast and lunch for five days. I decided to include: bread, crackers, tuna, peanut butter, jelly, soup, ravioli, cereal and instant oatmeal. These item were chosen because they did not require refrigeration and they could be easily prepared by a child without adult supervision. A Go Fund Me account was created along with another online giving options. I posted the links to my social media accounts and was pleased when several of my friends decided to give to the project. Although we initially budget for $450.00, we were able to raise over $650.00. We also garnered the participation of our sister church which donated 6 snack items for each