Community SA School for Inquiry and Creativity

A Tale of the Communal Feast

-San Antonio, TX. The faculty and staff of one local charter school has taken upon themselves to make sure everyone they know and don’t know will receive a Thanksgiving Dinner, regardless if it’s a week early. The San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity, an arts-infused public charter school will be holding its annual Community (Thanksgiving) Dinner at 4601 San Pedro Ave. on Friday, November 18, 2011 from 5 pm – 9 pm. This festive feast is in its 8^th year, having been a continued team building platform and community initiative since the early 2000’s.

Riding on the successes of their city-wide Food Day events in October, the San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity promises to deliver again with this open invitation meal; reveling in their past successes of over 78 turkeys cooked in 24 hours and having served and over 1,000 plates from last year’s accounts. Dr. Debbie DeLeon, the school’s Superintendent has always made it a point for the school to give back to its surrounding community. The preholiday weekend is a time when the staff, parents, and students donate their time and energy and make sure the greater San Antonio constituency doesn’t go hungry. Billed as a Community Dinner, the school goes way above and beyond this expectant etiquette with their due diligence and dedication to the families in their vicinity. The school uses its school bus and makes trips downtown to homeless camps; checking in and around Haven for Hope, scouting parks and cruising under bridges to personally ask and pick up anyone wanting a meal and in need of some company around the holidays.

Internally, the San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity launches preparation for the Community Dinner a month early, promoting the event with a friendly Canned Food Drive contest among all the classes. Dr. DeLeon says, “ We try to make it exciting for everyone here at the school, keeping a daily tally of how much each class has and who has the most…making a friendly competition between teachers and students alike.” A school who makes no qualms about their roughly 93% economically disadvantaged population, San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity knows programs like this dinner not only benefit the general population of San Antonio, but also its own students’ families.

Addressing aspects of hunger, healthy living, and making sure the students and their families have the knowledge to make a healthy eating decisions is something Gabriel Delgado, the Community Outreach Director states the school has been focusing on. “Food Day was a major milestone for us in terms of partnership”, Delgado says. “With over 20 new community based partnerships and collaborations around healthy food, we felt this move straight into addressing hunger is only natural.”

“Making several trips around town is time consuming and takes coordination”, stated Delgado. “We confirm with people- yes…we will bring you back… yes, you can take some with you…Yes, it’s free. Sometimes they need reassurance we are not going to preach to them or anything”, he says jokingly.

Among the many jovial customers, the staff works hard through the night to make this an evening of remembrance, Dr. DeLeon comments that there are a significant number of repeat visitors from previous years. “They know we do this for them and we hear it from friends and families that this is something they look forward to every year”, says DeLeon. The staff revels in the giving back attitude, Mr. Sam Espurvoa, one of the chefs for the night brings his crew in a day early to fire up the ovens in the Asbury Methodist Fellowship Hall, the location of the Community Dinner; starting the cooking of turkeys the day before. With expectations, visitors, and donations to exceed last year’s, Dr. DeLeon, Mr. Sam Espurvoa and the rest of the San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity staff have a great night to look forward too.

The San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity’s Community Dinner will take place on Friday, November 18, 2011 from 5 pm - 9 pm at 4601 San Pedro Ave. in the Asbury Methodist Fellowship Hall. For more information contact the school at 210-738-0020.