Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of our goals has been to find the best way to respond that would help our community, and give our church family an outlet to serve during a season that still seems so uncertain. The Live Awake team was created to plan and execute projects designed to tangibly display love and inspire hope to those in our area that need it most.
Here is the next installment of our series detailing the projects undertaken by the Live Awake team with support and involvement from our larger Awaken Church family.
Live Awake Project - Lunch for Teachers at Idaho Arts Charter
Anyone with school-aged children can attest to the fact that COVID has completely changed the educational landscape for schools and families alike. There is, of course, the additional stress on students and their parents, who are facing challenges that no one was prepared for. On the other end of virtual learning are teachers, who in one year have had to completely upend years of techniques and best practices to adapt to administration expectations and students’ needs.
If you’ve attended Awaken in-person, you’ve probably noticed that we’re situated next to a school, Idaho Arts Charter. Over the past few years, we’ve partnered with them in many ways. We sold them land to expand their parking lot, and until that parking lot was completed, parents used our own parking when dropping off children. For the last two years, we’ve also provided backpacks for IACS families who needed them. Our own lead pastor, Brooke Cooke, taught kindergarten there and still maintains a relationship with teachers and administrators. For those reasons, and more, the Live Awake team planned to surprise the teachers at Idaho Arts with lunch at the beginning of a harried 2020 school year.
Partnering again with Chick-fil-A of Nampa, who donated half of the meals, we were able to supply 50 meals to the teaching staff at IACS. The Live Awake Team along with volunteers picked up the meals at the restaurant and dropped them in the teaching lounge for a safe, contactless delivery.
Melanie Tucker, an Awaken staff member and parents of two IACS students shared about the experience:
As a parent of students who attend there I get to see on a daily basis the effort their teachers are putting into the material which has to be completely changed. When it’s done remotely you have to be so much more creative as a teacher to do each and every lesson.
Also, these teachers are being judged, criticized and blamed by many parents during this. Parents are under so much pressure that the teachers are who get a lot of the push back. So it was important to me to show that we do SEE these teachers and appreciate what they are doing. We see their sacrifice.
I actually just paused the other day and wrote Shiloh’s teacher an email of appreciation before we started full remote learning again. Just to let her know that she is amazing and I see all of her effort and patience for my child.
The remote learning process hasn’t been smooth for the majority of those involved, and the struggle continues to find solutions for a unique set of challenges. But as light-bearers and as people charged with creating culture rather than bowing to it, honoring teachers and showing gratitude in difficult situations is a vital and world-changing practice. Whether it be working from home, online schooling, or encountering different regulations at stores or restaurants, what are some practical ways you can combat difficult situations with gratitude and honor?
Over the next few weeks, look out for information on other Live Awake projects that have been completed so far this year. And check out a video of this project here.