Participant Profile – Serena Haak

Serena Haak has a rice allergy. But that didn’t stop her from participating creatively! As a Portland Central Young Life leader, she spends a lot of time hanging out with high school students who have little or no familiarity with following Jesus, and no exposure to an idea like Rice & Beans Month:

Serena shares rice and beans with students at Cleveland High School

 “As a way to introduce kids to Young Life, I met weekly with a group of 15-25 students during their lunch period at Cleveland High School. I always arrived with food, drinks, and a heart ready to connect with them. During March, I decided to expand their perspective a bit. Two of the Cleveland girls I was mentoring helped me cook rice and beans in massive quantities. Quite an interesting experience for them!

And then when I showed up at school four weeks in a row with only rice, beans, and cups for water, I got to share with the whole group why the menu had drastically changed. The idea of eating simpler food in order to give to hungry people was 

Cleveland students cooking a huge pot of beans

completely new to them and they thought it was really cool. I loved having a whole new dialogue open up about issues beyond what was going on in their own lives. It also made a huge difference in the cost of the lunches, which allowed me to donate to the cause without ever eating any rice!”

As you consider what your own participation in Rice & Beans Month might look like this year, let this example remind you that growing in love, compassion, and Christ-likeness is the core of this experience, and that can happen in many different ways.

 

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Article adapted from Hope Is Alive, a quarterly magazine publication of Lahash International. You can sign-up online to receive this free magazine.