Students Dish Out Help to the Homeless

Satisfying a sweet tooth, and a desire to perform community service, students at Los Encinos School prepared about 200 miniature apple pies Wednesday, half of which they will serve to residents of a local homeless shelter.

“The pies are a special event for Thanksgiving, but it’s tied to our fifth- and sixth-graders’ regular visits to the shelter,” said Chris Holabird, director of the 90-student private school.

On Monday, students will present the residents of the L.A. Family Corp.’s Valley Shelter with the baked fruits of their labor--in addition to the turkey sandwiches they usually serve during monthly visits.

The other half of the batch of pies will be taken home by students.

“This is really good for our students; it gets them started with a sense of community service from a young age,” said teaching assistant Heather Rhodes, as she moved from child to child, inspecting the handiwork of each baker.

“This is more personal than just dropping off cans. They like getting their hands into it--and they definitely like licking them off.”

On Wednesday morning, as a group of kindergartners and first-graders carefully sprinkled a cinnamon and sugar mixture onto chunks of red and green apples, some older students nearby offered encouragement.

“I think this is important,” said sixth-grader Jennifer Weiss. “It helps other people and it’s a learning experience. It’s also just fun to do it.”

Those at the shelter say the students’ involvement allows them to see another side of homelessness.

“They learn that homelessness is not just the person on the sidewalk with a bottle of alcohol. It’s kids like themselves whose families have fallen on hard times,” said Joyce Barbee, who feeds about 250 per day as the cafeteria supervisor at the North Hollywood shelter.