Swampscott Middle School discusses hunger over dinner

SWAMPSCOTT – The organic tomato sauce was both tangy and sweet, the meatballs juicy, and the service impeccable. But most importantly, the food at Swampscott Middle School’s pop-up restaurant Tuesday provided nourishment for the stomach as well as the mind.”People aren’t just starving,” student Nathan Reed, 12, said. “We learned that some people are hungry, sometimes they just can’t afford it to eat.”Eighty of the sixth grade students at Swampscott Middle School concluded their unit on hunger by turning the cafeteria into a restaurant to cook and serve a community dinner Tuesday night. And rather than paying a bill, invited diners were asked to donate money to Feeding America, a nonprofit national system of food banks. This is the sixth year of the event, organized and initiated by English Language Arts teacher Brandon Lewis and his fellow teachers. The unit is personal for Lewis, who recalled growing up in the projects of Brooklyn, N.Y., and visiting the local food pantry.”The hardest thing when we start this unit is to squash the stereotype that hunger is homelessness, or a person shaking a change cup on the corner,” Lewis said. “That’s a small part?(hunger) is also a two-parent home with two kids, a rent or mortgage, and then all of a sudden one of the parents gets a cancer diagnosis, or one of the parents loses his or her job…there’s an ever growing population of people going hungry who nobody sees or knows about.”So the students read about hunger and research what it means to be hungry or “food insecure” in America. They also undergo rigorous training for the pop-up restaurant at Swampscott Middle School.”He’s trained us hard,” said server Eli Delia.Ava Landen greeted diners at the door and sat them at a table, presenting silverware and a menu of the evening’s fare. Server Mary Alice Brennan was prompt in taking a drink order of coffee (with fixings) and/or water and brought over a salad of mixed greens with Italian dressing and bread. She then took the entree order, inquiring whether the chef needed to consider a gluten allergy, or whether the diner was a vegetarian and not interested in meatballs.Anna Coughlin arrived quickly thereafter with a serving of whole-wheat ziti covered with a not-too-liquid/not-too-pasty red sauce and meatballs.”It’s a little hectic (in the kitchen),” Coughlin said. “But it’s really fun.”Anna Levenberg demonstrated the intuition of a natural waiter – refilling a water glass before the diner even realized it was nearly empty.And after a dessert of ice cream and chocolate sauce, Riley Lord, 15, one of five high school students who returned to help out at the dinner, cleared the dishes.”I think (hunger) is a big topic to learn about at such a young age, but it’s such an important one,” Lord said.In the kitchen other students were at work and anxiously awaiting as Social Studies teacher Pam Larson dished out the pasta and the sauce”I make meals for family and that’s just four people, this is 250 people…it’s a bit extreme,” said Henna Domian, 12, as he prepared baskets of Italian bread. “It seems like you’re actually in a real business.”Larson said the staff was working hard and well prepared.”They’ve been training and learning about food issues,” Larson said. “We feel education is more than just academics, because to be a good well-rounded person you need to use your heart, not only your brain.”And not only students but diners were sated both in body and mind.”For the kids, it’s great,” said Michelle Reed, speaking of her son Nathan’s experience. “He kept coming home and speaking about (hunger)…it really grabbed his attention… He absolutely loved it; they should do more of this type of project to really inspire (students).”