Students learn skills, share lunch at church
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Emani Jones, right, helps serve lunch to seniors at the Crafton United Presbyterian Church. She's one of the special needs middle school students from the Pittsburgh Classical Academy who stock the food pantry and serve lunch at the church twice a month. -
Cedric Saunders, left, and Brian McLain help stock the food pantry shelves at the church.
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Ladies who lunch at the Crafton United Presbyterian Church on Bradford Avenue in Crafton have a special relationship with their teen and pre-teen servers.
The youth, who have a broad spectrum of disabilities such as Down syndrome and autism, help to prepare and serve the meals, and then they sit down with the women to eat and socialize.
Other students help to sort and stack food items in the church's food pantry, which feeds needy families.
The middle school-age students from the Pittsburgh Classical Academy in Sheraden visit the church two Mondays each month.
"This is the first year the school has made the connection with this church and it is magnificent," said Candice Stanko, a special education teacher in Pittsburgh Public Schools. She said the seven students in her class are learning pre-vocational skills and life skills.
"The students respond well to learning skills that they will use in high school and possibly in future jobs," Mrs. Stanko said.
About 35 women over the age of 55 -- and occasionally a man or two -- come to the church regularly for the church's Community Adults Meeting Place.
Most of the CAMP regulars are not members of the church, said Tricia Sanders, community outreach coordinator at Crafton U.P. Church. The program is for anyone in the community, she said.
At a recent luncheon meeting of students and CAMP members, students helped prepare a meal of beef tips over noodles with corn, bread and apple pie.
Student Emani Jones smiled as she dished out the food. She's especially good at and interested in food preparation and service, Mrs. Sanders and Mrs. Stanko said.
One of the students wasn't smiling as he surveyed the food on his lunch plate.
"I don't think he likes it," LaRue Colosimo of Ingram said to her luncheon companions, Donna Jones and Mary Anne Simile, both of Ingram.
"That's OK," she told the boy. "We'll get you something else."
He smiled when Mrs. Sanders brought him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
First Published March 11, 2010 5:30 am
