Food Across Cultures: JCU Service Learning Presents Humanitarian Project
Professor Andrea Lanzone and activist Alessandro Sabelli
JCU Service Learning presented “In Cammino… Catering Migrante,” a humanitarian project that fosters social inclusion and professional development for migrant and refugee cooks in Rome, on Friday, July 13. JCU partner Humilitas, the ASCS Onlus program for the Latin-American Mission to Rome, launched the initiative three months ago in collaboration with Gustamundo, a restaurant that runs fundraising dinners with the help of refugee centers and not-for-profit organizations. Funded by Cattolica Assicurazioni and Suore Francescane della Santissima Maria Addolorata, the project is sponsored by Biblioteche di Roma and involves twenty cooks from 16 different countries, including Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Iran, Afghanistan, and others.
JCU Service Learning – Combining Fieldwork and Education promotes co-curricular activities for students and graduates interested in working in the humanitarian field and combining education with volunteering activities. Professor Andrea Lanzone, Assistant Dean for Student Academic Affairs, and Service Learning project coordinator, together with JCU Athletics Coordinator and activist Alessandro Sabelli represented JCU on the official board of experts, social workers and volunteers at the first “In Cammino… Catering Migrante” cooking contest. Professor Lanzone said, “Food represents countries, their people, memories and expectations. Human hands make food, and if we are able to appreciate the food of a distant country, it shouldn’t be difficult to understand the history of its people.”
JCU Service Learning will soon support a new humanitarian project. Alessandro Sabelli is launching his second fundraising initiative, Walk for Research, to raise money for children’s medical research, as part of the “I 4 Children” fundraising network of Fondazione Bambino Gesù. Beginning on September 8, Alessandro will be walking 850 kilometers along the ancient medieval Via Francigena. The route will end at Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome with a closing event featuring the “In Cammino…Catering Migrante” cooks.
