The Love Van Goes to School
Over the past two years, alongside our efforts to feed and support our fellow citizens in emergency situations, we have been working very successfully with young people. Primary, middle, and high school students experience the joy of giving by cooking with us—at our premises, at their school, or in their town's central square.
Working together for a common purpose, selflessly giving, and taking responsibility for producing something so important fills them with joy and enthusiasm.
Seeing the wonderful results of cooking with children, we created the awareness campaign The Love Van Goes To School!
This initiative takes The Love Van team on a journey within and beyond the borders of Attica, giving children from different cities the opportunity to experience the joy of giving by cooking around our pot.
This project will last for one school year (2025-2026) and our van will visit schools within and outside Attica.
The cooking activity lasts approximately 3 hours and, in order to run smoothly, the maximum number of children is 25.
Details about the activity, as well as information about those responsible for the cooking, can be found below.
Cooking Process
The cooking process is simple and all that is needed is good cooperation with the teacher or professor of the class that will participate.
We recommend discussing the concept of volunteering with the children and how important it is for society and for ourselves. It is also important to tell the children where the meals they prepare will be distributed and why that particular organization was chosen. At the same time, we suggest that you mention the action that will take place in schools (The Love Van Goes To School), as well as other actions of The Love Van in Athens and in emergency situations (information that can be found in the presentation we have already sent you). Finally, we are attaching the CVs of those responsible for cooking so that the children can ‘get to know’ them in advance.
After consulting with their teacher/professor, the children will need to purchase a few cooking supplies themselves, which are very inexpensive (a list will be provided below). This way, they become involved in the entire activity before it even begins.
We meet in the school courtyard at 10:00 a.m., set up our outdoor kitchen, and start cutting the vegetables. When all the vegetables we need for cooking have been chopped, we put them in our pot and start boiling the food.
Then the children start cutting the bread and preparing the dessert that will be served with the meal. Once everything is ready, we start packing.
When the whole process is over, we clean the space and the tables and taste what we have worked so hard to cook! Now the hot food and its accompaniments are ready to be distributed! The activity ends at 1:30 p.m.
We recommend discussing the concept of volunteering with the children and how important it is for society and for ourselves. It is also important to tell the children where the meals they prepare will be distributed and why that particular organization was chosen. At the same time, we suggest that you mention the action that will take place in schools (The Love Van Goes To School), as well as other actions of The Love Van in Athens and in emergency situations (information that can be found in the presentation we have already sent you). Finally, we are attaching the CVs of those responsible for cooking so that the children can ‘get to know’ them in advance.
After consulting with their teacher/professor, the children will need to purchase a few cooking supplies themselves, which are very inexpensive (a list will be provided below). This way, they become involved in the entire activity before it even begins.
We meet in the school courtyard at 10:00 a.m., set up our outdoor kitchen, and start cutting the vegetables. When all the vegetables we need for cooking have been chopped, we put them in our pot and start boiling the food.
Then the children start cutting the bread and preparing the dessert that will be served with the meal. Once everything is ready, we start packing.
When the whole process is over, we clean the space and the tables and taste what we have worked so hard to cook! Now the hot food and its accompaniments are ready to be distributed! The activity ends at 1:30 p.m.
List of Cooking Equipment
- Olive oil 2 liters
- 3 kg tomato paste
- Short pasta 9 kg
- Onions 3 kg
- Carrots 2 kg
- Eggplants 2 kg
- Colorful peppers 2 kg
- Bread 8 kg
- Merenda or jam 3 kg
- Aluminum foil with lid 150 packs (code r 43)
- Disposable gloves (2 packs)
- 1 roll of kitchen paper
- 150 food bags for toast
- Slices of bread for 150 toasts
- 3 large tables for preparing the meal
- Water near the cooking area