Welcome to Pilot Light’s Feeding Minds blog! Here, we get to tell the story of Food Education through in-depth stories from our classrooms, partnership spotlights, new program announcements, and opinion pieces from guest authors and the Pilot Light team. Join us in exploring the power of food to connect, excite, and empower us to build a better future together.
May 25, 2020
By PilotLight
Memorial Day Pasta Salad Recipe
Looking for a delicious, easy to make recipe this Memorial Day? Try our quick and easy Pasta Salad! Pasta Salad Makes 5 cups 1 lb. dry pasta (preferably rotini, but anything works!) ½ c canola or vegetable oil 4 TB lemon juice (juice of ~ 1 lemon) 4 TB red wine vinegar ½ tsp. mustard
Read More >>April 22, 2020
By PilotLight
Pilot Light on WGN Radio
Listen as our co-founder, Matthias Merges, and Executive Director, Alex DeSorbo-Quinn, join Ji Suk Yi’s radio program to discuss Pilot Light and Family Meal. The show originally aired on Thursday, April 16th. In addition to explaining the history and mission of Pilot Light, Matthias and Alex introduced Family Meal, our new distance learning program designed
Read More >>February 7, 2020
By PilotLight
Ray Elementary Students Garner Support for Chicago’s Styrofoam and Single-use Plastic Ban
Ray Elementary students have joined forces with Alderman. Scott Waguespack and Alderman Susan Sadlowski Garza to help drive support for the prohibition on single use plastic and Styrofoam containers in Chicago.Students attended the press conference held by the Illinois Environmental Council on January 15 to introduce the ordinance to the Committee on Finance. Friends of
Read More >>December 20, 2019
By PilotLight
Welcome to The Jungle: Publican Quality Meat’s Rob Levitt Delights Students with a Live Butcher Lesson
Students at Dewey Elementary School, which is on the border of the neighborhoods of New City, Englewood, and Back of the Yards in Chicago, were in for quite a spectacle this past week, as Rob Levitt, head butcher for Publican Quality Meats prepared a special demonstration for the classroom – the butchering of
Read More >>November 25, 2019
By PilotLight
Harris Policy Labs and Pilot Light: Building a Coalition of Support for Food Education
In 2018,Pilot Light released the nation’s first-ever Food Education Standards, a set of recommendations for food education for K-12 students. The Food Education Standards were developed in collaboration with Pilot Light co-founders and notable Chicago chefs Paul Kahan, Matthias Merges and Jason Hammel, as well as nutrition and education experts and faculty from the University
Read More >>September 3, 2019
By pilotlight@dmin
Pilot Light Partners with the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation to Bring Food Education to Summer Camp
What do professional hockey leagues and Pilot Light have in common? We all have to eat, right! Pilot Light was excited to provide produce-focused lessons this summer. More than 800 kids from across Chicago participated in Healthy Hawks camp run by the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation in collaboration with Pilot Light. Students created snacks using an
Read More >>July 25, 2019
By PilotLight
Student Activism in Action: Former Governor Pat Quinn joins Ray Elementary School to Support Student Polystyrene Ban Petition
Last month students from Ray Elementary School, along with former Illinois Governor, Pat Quinn, made history when they took a trip to the Chicago City Hall to present their ordinance to ban polystyrene use in Chicago restaurants. As part of their Pilot Light Food Advocacy Project, 6th grade science teacher Vicki Drewa and her students
Read More >>June 17, 2019
By PilotLight
A Pretty Cool Ice Cream Experience
Last month Pilot Light teamed up with to bring a one-of-a-kind experience to the students at Disney II Magnet School. Students worked together to brainstorm unique pop flavors and ingredients. The students voted on their favorites, and the top two winners were created and sold in Pretty Cool’s Logan Square shop this May. Sprinkles of
Read More >>By PilotLight
Pilot Light’s Memo to the Mayor
Last month, Pilot Light hosted our On the Table community dinner, as part of The Chicago Community Trust’s On The Table initiative. This year’s goal was to create a Memo to the Mayor – a real and tangible way to share our ideas about important issues with Chicago’s new mayor Lori Lightfoot and her administration.
Read More >>May 10, 2019
By PilotLight
Extending the Love: Student-led Love Lunches and More Advocacy Project at Claremont Academy Returns
In January 2019 Pilot Light was a recipient of the Chicago Housing Consulting Services grant and over the past two weeks the grant was put into action as Pilot Light and Claremont Academy extended its Love Lunches and More Advocacy Project. The $5000 grant extended the student-envisioned Love Lunches Advocacy Project to support homeless families
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