Food for the soul

Each week at Homewood High School, there are cafeteria tables that bring together what outsiders might see as an unusual group. But to the students at the table, it’s just Lunch Bunch.

Lunch Bunch is a group that brings together students from Gilan Jones’ special education class with general education students during their lunch hour and was started by HHS graduate Maggie Truitt during her junior year. 

Truitt saw that some students were off on their own during lunch, not interacting with the general population, and she wanted to bring groups together.

“We all went to school together but failed to embrace the different qualities of each other,” Truitt said. “I was immediately frustrated with myself and my peers for failing to include the special needs students in our conversations. As a result, I organized the Lunch Bunch group.”

Since Truitt graduated, senior Evie Morton has taken over organizing — and expanding — Lunch Bunch. She started working with Peer Helpers, a group of selected students who aim to positively influence others, during her sophomore year. 

In her role as diversity chair, Morton worked with the students in Jones’ class through events such as the Special Olympics and annual Valentine’s Day dance. While others might see them as different, Morton said she never did.

“My mom is a special ed teacher, my sister works with the Exceptional Foundation, and I grew up with the Exceptional Foundation,” Morton said. “… They [Exceptional Foundation participants] weren’t ‘special needs’ to me; they were just people.”

During her time at HHS, Morton said other students are nice to their peers but may not be outwardly accepting.

“The mentality has kind of been, ‘They’re special needs, that’s fine, we’ll be nice to them, but we’re not going to get to know them,’” Morton said.

That’s the feeling they try to combat with Lunch Bunch.

“We get people, they get out of their comfort zone. The non-special needs students are extremely nervous when they first start Lunch Bunch, but then they sit with and get to know these students in Mrs. Jones’ class, and they automatically, within the second Lunch Bunch, they’re comfortable,” Morton said.

Fellow student Mary Lauren Burdeshaw, started off nervous at her first Lunch Bunch, Morton said. After getting to know the other students involved in Lunch Bunch, however, Burdeshaw decided to take on a bigger role with Lunch Bunch and the Peer Helpers, becoming diversity chair this year.

To Morton, helping students who might never cross paths form those relationships is one of the most rewarding parts of Lunch Bunch. While Lunch Bunch started with mainly Peer Helpers, Morton said anyone is welcome to join in with the group.

And it ends up being a win-win for all of the students involved, Jones and Morton said.

“Lunch bunch helps with socializing with the general peers in the school, and the setting encourages continued involvement in the community,” Jones said.

And for other students, it can provide a boost during the school day.

The Lunch Bunch boils down to being a group that is getting to know different personalities, Morton said, and they all end up laughing and talking throughout the lunch period. Everyone is able to be themselves at lunch, she said, and it ends up brightening their day.

“Everyone benefits each other,” Morton said.