Students at Cesar Chavez Community School are learning to eat healthier while raising money for a community gardening project and mural thanks to the combined effort of the Phoenix community.
Hip Veggies recently worked with students and the downtown community to create screen-print grocery bags that will benefit the school, said Monika Woolsey, founder of Hip Veggies, a collaboration between artists and food professionals. The local business sells shopping bags designed by artists and donates part of the proceeds to hunger-related causes. The bags created for Cesar Chavez Community School will be introduced during an event held at the co-working space CO+HOOTS on Dec. 1 and will be sold for $20.
Students have worked closely with Hip Veggies to learn more about maintaining a healthy diet, said Ivette Rodriquez, principal at the school. The bags will be the third in a series of 12 reusable grocery bags sold by Hip Veggies. Each bag depicts locally grown fruits or vegetables created by Phoenix artists, including Gennaro Garcia, who designed the bag for Cesar Chavez Community School.
During Saturday’s event at CO+HOOTS, 20 elementary school students will meet with professionals to prepare a promotional video with videographer Dave Seibert that will premiere later that evening.
The event, CO+HOOTS Career Day and Video Premiere with Cesar Chavez Community School, will open to the public at 6 p.m., Woolsey said. Woolsey encourages people to RSVP before the event on the Hip Veggies Facebook page.
Students will have an opportunity to work with the professionals at the co-working space and learn how to run a “mini business,” said Kelsey Wong, CO+HOOTS director of operations and host of Saturday’s event.
“They have a lot of marketing and PR people there so it’s an opportunity for them to work with some of the CO+HOOTS people,” Woolsey said.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the bags will go to Cesar Chavez Community School, Woolsey said. One third of the proceeds will be used to help teach students how to build vertical gardens from used pallets that will allow students to grow vegetables at home, Rodriquez said. Another third will go toward the school’s art club.
Cesar Chavez Community School does not have an art teacher, Rodriquez said. Instead students are exposed to art through community members, including local artist Garcia who created the Pichuberry design that will be featured on the bag.
“Our kids don’t technically have an art class but they are super lucky in that they are exposed to some amazing, amazing artists,” Rodriquez said. “Particularly Gennaro, but he brings a lot of artists so our kids get great experiences with community involvement.”
Rodriquez said that food is scarce in the area around Cesar Chavez Community School, which is why a community garden will benefit the area around the school. Food banks that used to deliver to the area don’t anymore due to budgeting reasons, Rodriquez said.
“There is not an abundance of food stores here where we live,” Rodriquez said. “I think this area is generally considered to be a food desert.”
The students were involved in the entire process from the design of the bag to marketing it, Woolsey said. They worked with Garcia to create their own design of the fruit. For many students, Woolsey said, this was their first introduction to Pichuberries.
“It’s not just that they designed the bag but it is an entire business enterprise project for them,” Woosley said. “They have been told that they are responsible for marketing the bags, selling the bags so they can understand what it is like to have a business.”
Contact the reporter at mallory.price@asu.edu
