When First Graders Lead:  How One School Turned a Crisis Into Community Action

Sally and Repair the World Boston City Director Will Schwartz at the Rashi School’s Thanksgiving meal kit assembly project.

When Sally Rose Zuckert, Social Justice Coordinator at the Rashi School and Repair the World Service Corps alum, first heard about the delay in SNAP benefits, she knew her community would jump to respond. Her connection to Repair the World’s network meant she was well-positioned to act when parents and colleagues immediately asked the same question: what could they do to help?

“For about a week, I was just thinking about that question,” Sally recalls. Then, as if by divine timing, she received an email about Repair the World’s microgrants. “I applied within an hour, and I was like, Oh my gosh, that’s my clarity.”

The microgrant provided the crucial support that transformed a good idea into impactful tangible action. With funding secured, Sally made a bold decision to pause the regular social justice curriculum and devote three weeks before Thanksgiving to a food security project that would connect Jewish values with real-world action. The timing also carried significant weight, a holiday centered on gratitude and gathering around food coinciding with families uncertain how they would feed their children made the urgency impossible to ignore. The microgrant did not just purchase food supplies, it activated an entire community. Lower school (kindergarten – 5th grade) families contributed additional donations, parents volunteered their time, and teachers joined the urgent effort. Together, the Rashi kehillah assembled meal kits that would feed families during the holiday.

Each grade level started their journey with the same foundation, a Midrash teaching that when we feed the hungry, we are welcomed into the gates of the divine. “That Midrash actually provided such a sound foundation for kids across grade levels,” Sally explains. “My kindergarteners read it, fourth graders read it, fifth graders read it.” While each grade made age-appropriate connections, the core message remained, “When we go out of our way to help hungry people, we grow our connection and our feelings around God and around the good deeds that we can do to make the world better,” Sally reflects.

Meal kits assembled by the Rashi School community, providing Thanksgiving groceries to local families in need.

The project’s most remarkable moment came from an unexpected source, two first graders who decided to transform their weekend playdate into a fundraising mission. “This is the first time I’ve ever had such young kids decide to really take the reins in that way,” Sally says with evident pride. “The students organized a snack table outside their synagogue, selling treats and raising over $100 for the project, all on their own. “So some of the food you see here directly comes from those first graders with support from their families and parents.”

For Sally, this moment captured the project’s deeper purpose. “When we allow kids to really decide where their values are, and we support them in living those values, transformative things can happen.”

During a classroom session, one student asked a question that opened an entire conversation, what happens if someone doesn’t have a kitchen? The question revealed the nuanced reality of food insecurity, that people experiencing hunger have different living situations, different access to resources, and require different kinds of support. Students also grasped a sobering truth, “We’re helping to feed families for one holiday, but families have to eat every day.”

What started as a response to a crisis evolved into what Sally describes as “a community-building event that has a ton of heart and is bringing people a ton of joy.” The project exceeded all expectations, not just in the meals assembled but in the conversations sparked, the values internalized, and the agency discovered by students who learned they could make a real difference. “You can help people just from what’s in your heart,” Sally says simply. And these students are proving it, one meal kit at a time.

Do you have an idea for a service project that could transform your community? Repair the World’s microgrants provide the funding to turn inspiration into action. Whether you’re responding to an urgent need or addressing a long-standing challenge, we’re here to help you make it happen. Apply today and join community members like Sally and the Rashi School who are proving that with a little support, even our youngest community members can create powerful change.