Sophomore Ella Eskenazi is passionate about food.
Her passion lies not in the mere consumption of food, though fueling her body with real, nutritious food is important to her; you should see her light up at the mention of rainbow carrots. Her passion lies deeper, in the structures and processes that influence our community’s food system. Most importantly, she believes strongly that real food should be a right for all people, not a privilege.
Eskenazi shares this belief with The Patachou Foundation, which feeds wholesome meals to food-insecure school children in Indianapolis. The Foundation feeds children at eight Indianapolis schools — IPS #14, IPS #15, IPS #43, IPS #54, IPS #58, IPS #99, IPS #101, and Tindley Renaissance. Last summer, Eskenazi began volunteering with the Foundation, serving afternoon meals to children in local summer camps.
“I love volunteering with The Patachou Foundation because you get to interact with the kids,” said Eskenazi. “I’m always asking them, ‘Do you like this salad?’ ‘How’s your burrito?’ and things like that. And they really love trying new foods. Sometimes they won’t want to try something, but if you encourage them, it’s fun to experience their reaction.”
The Patachou Foundation’s Ambassador Program
When school started in the fall, sports and after-school activities prevented Eskenazi from volunteering as much with The Patachou Foundation, but she discovered another way she could have an impact.
“I heard about The Patachou Foundation’s ambassador program a little after school started this year,” said Eskenazi. “I loved the Foundation’s mission, of course, so I decided to get involved as an ambassador. From there, I became more involved in combating food insecurity in our community.”
Eskenazi is one of 15 ambassadors in the inaugural class, and she is one of just two high school students in the program. Her fellow ambassadors represent many different professions, from lawyer to CEO, from educator to restauranteur.
“With such a diverse age range of the ambassadors, it’s really inspiring to me because I see so many different people,” said Eskenazi. “All the ambassadors say [to the high school students] ‘Oh my gosh, you guys are going to change the world.’ I think it’s just really cool to be around great people who are passionate about the things I’m passionate about.”
The Many Facets of the Food System
With food insecurity as her top concern, Eskenazi’s experience at University High School this year has opened her eyes to how multi-faceted this issue can be. The Garden to Table: Sustainable Food Systems January Term class taught her the importance of supporting local farmers and consciously making local or regional food choices whenever possible because of their benefits to the food system. And the Year of Service Group Eskenazi is spearheading has spent the year learning about the vital role bee pollination plays in the food system. She organized a meeting for the group with David Hocutt, the resident bee keeper on 116th Street, in the fall, and this spring the group is planting a pollinator garden in the University High School Outdoor Classroom.
“In the Leadership Through Service class last fall, we got to make webs of interest,” said Eskenazi. “On mine I put things like ‘outdoors’ and ‘nature’ and ‘animals’, and what I realized was that everything goes along with food insecurity if you look hard enough for the connection. Bee pollination, for example, plays a really vital role in our food system.”
How to Support Ella
As an ambassador with The Patachou Foundation, Eskenazi’s goal is to raise $7,000 by the end of 2018 – roughly the cost to serve a year’s worth of meals to students at one of the Foundation’s partner schools. She is planning fundraising events in the summer and fall and is hoping for the University High School community’s support. In addition to those events, supporters can also give at any time on her personal fundraising page.