My Social Action Project

On the 14th of September, I conducted my Social Action project which was called 'Sandwich with a smile'. The reason for giving this sandwich drive this name, was with the hopes of the learners personally handing out a sandwich to a person in need, and giving them a smile to brighten up their day.

Due to the rate of homeless people or people without food currently on the rise, I believe that this drive was of great effectiveness, as through creating awareness, the school was able to help those who need it most. This project was made up of four components, which were creating awareness, physically making the sandwiches, writing a positive letter and then finally, giving the sandwich to a person in need. I was able to create awareness about homeless people and how many people find themselves without food through asking the learners guided questions, in which the importance of eating a balanced meal was raised as well as the learners were made aware of when the drive 'sandwich with a smile' would happen. On the 1st of September (International write a letter day), the learners were asked to write a small but positive message on a card, to attach to the sandwich bag. On the 14th of September, the learners were required to bring two slices of bread to school in a sandwich bag, and stations were created in each classroom for the learners to be able to create their sandwiches with love. Finally, when the learners were picked up after the school day, they were required to take their sandwich in the car with them, and hand it out to a person in need. At the end of the day, I made extra sandwiches to personally hand out with all of the extra ingredients. Through implementing this drive, the whole school community was involved, from the teachers, to the students, to the student teachers, the parents and finally the wider community that were receiving the sandwiches. Whilst this process was taking place, it could be seen that the grade 3 community was coming together and working together to make sandwiches with love to help the wider community.

Service learning has left a long lasting impact on myself in the sense that I will forever be grateful to have food on my plate at dinner time, and a roof over my head to sleep under. By opening my eyes to the large number of people who are homeless and have no access to food in our direct community, I was able to see the impact of using spare money to be able to provide a well needed meal to individuals who cannot afford it themselves. I was also able to see the importance of community throughout this process, as without the people in my 'circle', i would have never been able to provide food to those in desperate need.

Through completing my service learning project, I have learnt new skills such as how to organize an event of this size, how to create awareness and then implement an event to reduce the hunger rate around me. I was able to learn new information through conducting the proposal for my project which increased my knowledge on the amount of people within my direct community who are struggling and do not have the basic needs that every person should have. I have gained a positive attitude towards the help of a community, as without their contributions on this drive, i would have not been able to help as many people in need.

This drive was of great benefit to the school, and the grade 3 learners in particular, as it teaches them the steps needed to create a jam sandwich (instructional writing) as well as how to write a letter, which both fall within the curriculum. This process has also taught learners the importance of food and why we should not waste food as some people do not have any. This project is sustainable and can be conducted in the future as it teaches the learners vital skills needed for everyday life, as well as benefits the community. There is no limit to the amount of times that the sandwich drive can be conducted, as people are constantly in the need of food.