Good neighbors collaborate for the 23rd year to make a difference for others on Thanksgiving Day in Edgewater

CHICAGO, Nov. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A service mindset is much more than just serving hundreds of piping hot turkey dinners on Thanksgiving; it’s a spirit of neighborly caring, understanding, and action that happens all year long.

Inspiration Café is abuzz. The kitchen is bustling. Parents, faculty and staff are busy chopping vegetables, whipping up potatoes, slicing turkeys and preparing and serving wonderful home-cooked meals for dozens of families whose goal is to exit homelessness. This annual Thanksgiving tradition and many others serve as a testament to the power of the human spirit, coming together in understanding and support of others. It has been a Sacred Heart Schools tradition for decades and is just one of many examples of how our community comes together to make a difference.

Classroom Learning and Action

Our faculty, staff, students and many parents are already preparing for various annual giving events around Thanksgiving, the winter holiday season and throughout the school year. As we do this, we celebrate the spirit of giving and care that is a hallmark of the remarkable dedication to social awareness, service, and action that our school community demonstrates throughout the year, in and out of the classroom.

Essential to the fabric of an education of the whole person is the integration of everyday service learning and how that translates into action and care for others.

Whether through partnership with Inspiration Café at Thanksgiving, or with other agencies in Edgewater and adjacent neighborhoods such as The Ignatian Services Mission, Howard Area Community Center, Misericordia, or Evanston Food Pantry, our entire community is engaged in service learning and action.

Through an intricately developed partner program expanded into a broad net of caring more than 25 years ago, students, faculty, staff, and many families give of themselves to grow, as Head of Schools Meg Steele encourages, “not to be the best in the world, but the best for the world.” The goal is twofold: first, help those in need by understanding their need, the root causes, solutions and the immediate actions an individual can take to alleviate suffering. Second, we work to help students model personal responsibility, building life-long habits of empathy, outreach and giving. We want them to be “good neighbors” wherever they can be.

In the classroom, students at every grade level learn about the poverties of substance and of spirit. They work to understand root causes and immediate as well as longer-term solutions. They learn to take individual responsibility to help where they can and they learn all this in an atmosphere that celebrates the dignity of every human being, regardless of their socio-economic circumstances.

Paz Salas, Coordinator of Service Learning and Community Partnerships is the planning and positive force behind all these Sacred Heart efforts. She works with many community partners, including Inspiration Cafe’s Associate Director, Hallie McDonald who reflects on the partnership.

“Inspiration Corporation’s work connecting people experiencing homelessness and poverty to services and resources is made possible thanks to partners like Sacred Heart Schools.”

Note: SHS has been partnering with Inspiration Café since 1999. Our students have learned from the staff and guests of the Café for years. We have donated, cooked, and served Thanksgiving dinner for an average of 60 IC participants since 2002. About 1440 Thanksgiving dinners have been provided as well as decorations in the Café, created by the SHS students each year.

About Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart Schools opened its doors in Chicago in 1876. As the oldest independent elementary school in Chicago, we operate as a private, Catholic school, welcoming all faiths, for Preschool through 8th grade students. Along the shores of Lake Michigan, our unique single gender classroom experience on a co-ed campus allows girls, through The Academy, and boys, through Hardey Prep, to pursue and excel in their love of learning within a safe, diverse and inclusive community.

Contact:
Sacred Heart Schools
Lis Slattery, Director of Marketing
(312) 315-5253
lis.slattery@shschicago.org
www.shschicago.org

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c94484f5-833a-4a8f-9c05-49c072c8b670

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d78373f9-2072-474e-958b-53eb35402088

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0708a0b4-b5be-4ac4-a5c3-415e39764d3d

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/67157649-da42-4f0c-aba9-12ebf76d54f0

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/346113ef-2120-427b-bc49-d7985453994d

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0ea2fc0b-e89b-49e0-b176-01639a1f1606

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/aec4d9a6-3925-4b03-8349-8739a4822973

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f0ea2127-cc9c-4cdb-8fd1-dc1e3d79d750

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/02747e3e-0988-4ac6-a0de-758ffc118134

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d71921e7-e395-45a5-905d-974ff095ab9f