It was near Thanksgiving ten years ago that Daljit Chahal, a volunteer at Wilson preschool, saw Independence Network’s students leaving school and asked a teacher if there were any holiday events for these students. (Both schools are on the same campus.)
There had been a holiday luncheon for the students in the past, Chahal was told, but the coordinator had been unable to continue.
“I think God gave me the idea to do it,” said Chahal, who went home and proposed to her husband, Santa Clara City Council Member Raj Chalal, that the family take on the luncheon.
Since then, with the exception of the pandemic years, every year, the Chahal family has served up a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal with all the fixin’s to the students, parents and teachers at Independence Network.
During the COVID years, the Chahals organized holiday gifts for the students.
“[That first luncheon] was a great event,” said Chahal, “and Raj announced that we would do it every year.”
The Chahals buy the food and, until 2020, their son Amar was the turkey chef, roasting four turkeys for the event. Since the pandemic, a nephew and one of Amar’s friends pitched in to cook two of the birds.
Kitchen supervisor on the day of the luncheon is volunteer Keith Stattenfield, former Santa Clara planning commissioner and past president of the Santa Clara Library Foundation & Friends. Students help with the set up.
The crew arrives at 9 a.m. the morning of the luncheon, and by 11:30, the tables are set, and students, teachers and parents are sitting down to eat.
“We couldn’t do it without the help of students, teachers and parents,” said Chahal.
The luncheon means a lot to Independence Network students.
“It says to students, ‘We’re thought of,’” said Yvonne Jassi, a teacher at the school. “Food is one of the joys that’s universal and something that students bond over and enjoy.
“The Chahals are wonderful people,” Jassi continues. “The students really appreciate them.”
“We have been given so much,” said Chahal. “We’re very blessed to share it with others.”
Santa Clara Adult Education’s Independence Network is part of Santa Clara Unified School District’s adult education program and is funded San Andreas Regional Center (SARC). It offers classes and programs for adults with developmental disabilities. Students must be SARC clients to participate but don’t have to live in the Santa Clara Unified School District.
Independence Network’s program is individual to each student to maintain and improve life skills, academic skills, build social skills and develop leisure interests like painting, crafts and dance. Some students volunteer at the Santa Clara Senior Center lunch program.
“Our students learn in small increments,” said Jassi, “so everything we do uses skills they have and [uses those skills to] learn new ones.”
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