Emelyn Daly
Emelyn's Lunch & Culture Club gives new meaning to the term "let's do lunch."
How do you get teenage girls to put their phones down? Here’s one way: form a Lunch & Culture Club. In this case, the average age of members is 16, all of them born and raised in New York City, but none of whom had ever, until recently, been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Their club founder and former teacher, Emelyn Daly, took them there, and then treated them to lunch at a French bistro. A good day by anybody’s standards, with the added plus of providing a safe, supportive space to socialize outside of school. The experience was a stimulating success, and the goal now is to do more of this, on a monthly basis. Emelyn’s wish: “I want them to get free to be curious and explore the world – to become aware of the seemingly infinite resources that are available to them in their own city. For the most part, they haven’t had a chance to do this because of their circumstances, their age, and the pandemic.” She got to know the girls while teaching after-school culinary arts and movement (she’s a certified yoga instructor) at Harlem’s Promise Academy. Not a bad deal if you get selected in the enrollment lottery: it’s a charter school, which should mean a private-school education at a public-school price (free!) but in this case, most kids end up getting what they pay for. A Harlem resident herself, Emelyn experienced her own To Sir, With Love moment while at the Academy, encountering a room full of kids who “didn’t know me, didn’t like me, and didn’t want to be there.” However, she had goals: “I wanted the best for them, and I wanted them to know that. I was not there to ruin their day. Many of these kids had a very antagonistic relationship with teachers and other types of authority figures. I did my best to be kind, and to be patient.” Admirable, but this didn’t mean that she didn’t continue to encounter “a lot of attitude, a lot of foul language, and a lot of pushback. Much of it was about performing for each other.” Still, Emelyn understood the assignment. Despite having no previous teaching experience with adolescents, she found that she could apply two rules: 1) art has the ability to open young people up emotionally and 2) the best connection is the simple kind: human to human. Emelyn has since left the school, but has kept in touch with the girls. And although behavioral transformations don’t happen as magically as they do in the movies, the chill has thawed. “They love to talk,” Emelyn says. “They love to debate and argue. They’re a fiery bunch. They are all very special and intelligent in their own ways. It’s been a gift to get to know them.” Emelyn, who labels herself “an actress and a chef,” is actually much more than that. She’s a Fulbright scholar and a linguist who speaks five languages and has lived and taught here, there and everywhere. Her experience, she says, “dovetails beautifully with the topic of culinary arts. My goal is to take the kids around the world through their taste buds.” This can be achieved in New York. Emelyn is determined to show this club that school doesn’t have to happen at school and that learning can actually be fun.
Emelyn has established a GoFundMe page to help the girls experience more monthly lunch and culture in The Big, Delicious Apple. If the fundraising is super successful, Emelyn can take it to the next level, such as sponsoring career-oriented internships.
As Emelyn states: “With your help, these amazing young women will have a unique chance to deepen their areas of interest, learn essential life skills, and multiply their global literacy.”
Follow Emelyn and the club on Instagram.
Don’t forget to show some love to The Lunch & Culture Club’s GoFundMe page!