Faculty, staff donate $10K to Second Harvest Food Bank

A group of USN employees shared their stimulus checks to give 43,160 meals to Middle Tennesseans in need.
By Joe Getsi, Band Director

A lot has happened and changed in the last few months. COVID-19 has turned world economies upside down, and events leading up to the recent protests for equality for our Black brothers and sisters have rightfully come to the forefront of the world’s attention. Hopefully, these recent events will bring real and lasting beneficial and long-overdue change. USN faculty and staff have been engaged in ongoing discussions throughout these historic events to make sense of, learn from, and initiate change that we feel is needed or necessary.
 
As online teaching at USN was coming to a close and before week’s end of inservice, discussions had been circulating among USN faculty and staff about the idea of donating stimulus checks, or a portion thereof, to a local food bank. These discussions came from a growing concern as we anxiously watched news reports of people that had lost their jobs and were lining up in miles-long lines for a box of food, this, in the richest country in the world. We, as faculty and staff of USN felt lucky, thanks to the parents of our students that have committed to continue to educate their children at USN, to have a job. Even some of us that had not, or may not be getting a stimulus check felt compelled to help. Others that had already donated their stimulus checks to worthy organizations but wanted to be a part of this initiative, donated yet again. The shock of seeing as much as a quarter of our country’s workforce suddenly out of work, helplessly watching this unfold, and feeling an obligation to help in some way propelled this idea forward.
 
It was our hope that we could raise enough to be noticed by other schools, organizations, businesses, or social media, that others might start similar initiatives to help worthy and much needed charitable organizations in these unprecedented times. We don’t know whether this will be noticed and emulated, but at the very least it will supply 43,160 meals to families in dire need, as Second Harvest can stretch a dollar into 4 meals. That is something that the faculty and staff of USN can all be proud of. I know I am proud of them, and proud to be associated with such a caring group of teachers, administrators, and staff.
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.