Meet Eva
“Once you see how many people need food, you can't unsee it. And then you're thinking, 'Okay, we have to do something about this.'"
When you were in eighth grade did you think about changing the world?
Eva Paulovic, an eighth grader at Marymount School of New York, has plunged right in.
The food recovery club she started with several close friends, ManeMeals, rescues surplus food from the school cafeteria, and delivers it to free community fridges every week.
As you’ll hear, ManeMeals is a family affair with a big heart.
A little more than a month old, the club has already delivered 250 meals. Eva will be speaking to well over 100 students at a virtual Student Food Recovery Task Force on April 4. Hers has been an incredible journey, and the more I listened to Eva tell it, the more I thought this smart and courageous young woman should speak for herself.
“Now I know: You only need to look around. Even in New York, you can see how many people need food.”
Eva:
The idea for this started from a Confirmation Service project we have this year as eighth graders who are getting confirmed in the spring.
My parents, Stefan and Alia, they've always stressed the importance of being grateful for what we have and that we should help other people.
At our school, I was present at sandwich-making events, where groups of us put together hundreds of sandwiches to be delivered to people who need them. I found it was sponsored by Grassroots Grocery.
The Grassroots Grocery Produce Party
Some time later, I went on a Saturday with my dad to the Grassroots Grocery Produce Party. Along with dozens of other people, we packed the produce and drove it in private cars to people who need it.
That really changed me. Because once you see how many people need food, you can't unsee it. And then you're thinking, 'Okay, we have to do something about this.' It's a big issue, but we have to take it on.
Now I know: You only need to look around. Even in New York, you can see how many people need food.
And once you open your eyes to it, you're going to be a lot more like, wow, this needs to change. Something needs to happen.
And think about that. This is such a big issue even worldwide. It's huge and I don't think enough people are aware or willing to address it because it is such a huge thing to undertake and make a change, and sometimes people are scared of that.
But if you do that, then you'll have so many other people around you.
“My whole family’s been on board. My mom came up with the name ManeMeals (our school mascot’s a lion), and my little sister Emilia, who’s in sixth grade here, she created our cute cartoon mascot.”
It needed to happen
Later, one day when I was getting lunch, I just saw at the end of the meal, there was so much food still there. And then I thought to myself, what do they do with this food and where does it go? It was not going to people who needed it the most. And then I felt that needed to happen.
I went online and saw on Instagram that there was this Food Recovery Task Force with other schools doing just that. So I was thinking we can do the same.
I got in touch with Dan (Zauderer, CEO of Grassroots Grocery), and he connected me to Sophie and Ellie who were already leading a food rescue club at their school, Nightingale. I took a deep breath.
What if no one comes?
I was nervous in the beginning. I was like, what if no one comes? But, you’ll see, once you start it, other people are going to realize that this is an issue, and I can help out.
Because even such a simple thing as putting surplus food into a community fridge is so meaningful and can help so many people.
I want to say it's not just me in this. My whole family's been on board. My mom came up with the name ManeMeals (our school mascot's a lion), and my little sister Emilia, who's in sixth grade here, she created our cute cartoon mascot.
Marymount's been amazing, too. Our school's all about educating young women to care, serve, and lead. The teachers, the staff, even the chef, they've all been cheering us on. They're like our ManeMeals cheerleaders!
I hope ManeMeals inspires other schools to do the same. We're just a little club at Marymount, but who knows? Maybe another school will see what we're doing and think, "Hey, we can do that too!"