Anna Isabella Acosta teaches her students how to be better people through volunteer work and giving back to the community.
Written by: Yasmin Mendiola
Edited by: Olivia Covey and Faith Malinowski
When COVID-19 hit the US, approximately 130,000 Chicagoans were laid off from their jobs. Anna Isabella Acosta, 43, quickly sprang into action to help the people in her community.
When Acosta was growing up in the Back of the Yards neighborhood and attending a Catholic school, she learned that it is better to give than receive. For years that has stuck with her, even while she was suffering herself.
“One of the biggest lessons that I learned was following Jesus' ways: compassion, kindness and always giving back to people in need,” Acosta says.
While living in Back of the Yards, she saw her neighborhood’s lack of resources, and how the city failed to invest in improvements. And as a young mother, Acosta struggled financially. She was unable to pay her bills – even buying disposable diapers was difficult.
Now, Acosta is a Chicago Public Schools social studies teacher at Thomas Kelly College Preparatory in Brighton Park and has taught for 20 years while also helping families in need.
In May 2020, Acosta asked a teacher friend if she could be part of her Pampers drive donation, and she agreed.
“We created a GoFundMe to collect a bunch of money to buy Pampers; I would buy the diapers, and we would drop them off. We dropped off diapers to about 30 families, 30 to 35 mothers,” Acosta says.
When COVID-19 hit, she pushed hard to serve communities, especially the one she grew up in. To her, it was the right thing to do.While teaching at Kelly, Acosta learned that members of the community who were food insecure were not receiving support. Acosta eventually found the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, a nonprofit organization that serves the neighborhood, and joined them to be part of the help.
“It's just the community people I have surrounded myself with that have inspired me to give back. I have been inspired by their work for so long,” Acosta says.
In June 2020, Hallie Trauger, a teacher at Back of the Yards College Preparatory High School, approached Acosta with the idea of getting together to create a mutual aid for Back of the Yards, which Acosta was more than delighted to help with. They also distribute hygiene products such as sanitary pads, shampoo, bar soap and disposable diapers at St. Miguel Archangel Parish Church on the first Thursday of every month.
“She [Acosta] is somebody who I want to be more like,” Trauger says. “She's really genuinely motivated by trying to make the world a better place.”
Trauger says that Acosta feels that passion and acts on it, meeting people’s needs and celebrating her city.
“I appreciate how she finds beauty in Chicago and finds a lot of things to love while also trying to fight and make the city a better place,” Trauger says. “That is the kind of spirit that we need more of. It makes a huge difference.”
In 2017, Acosta opened a community garden outside the school. The garden, tended to by Acosta and her students, consists of vegetables and herbs picked out by families and given away for free.
Besides founding the community garden, Acosta got inspired by a teacher friend at Roberto Clemente Community Academy whose Student Voice Committee opened their own food pantry. Acosta knew in her heart that she wanted to give Brighton Park their own food pantry.
Acosta told her students about the idea in February, and the Kelly Student Voice Committee and Students for Social Justice came together and showed up every Saturday to help distribute boxes of food behind the school’s parking lot.
“We realized that a lot of people needed some mutual aid; they needed some extra help with food, with [paying] bills,” Acosta says. “This was a way of us providing for free, whatever we get in donations pantry items, so that our community members walk up and take.”
Johnny Tan, a senior at Kelly, accompanies Acosta to distribute food. Working with her has made him want to continue on the path of helping his community.
“She taught me that when you serve the community, it makes you feel good and makes the community feel good. So, when she does it, it's kind of like a role model for me to do more for my community,” Tan says.
Acosta’s students stock the pantry and clean it, but anyone can stop by and donate items such as toothbrushes, shampoo, bars of soap, detergent, disposable diapers, wipes and non-perishable foods.
The Brighton Park Pantry receives 100 boxes of food from the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program each Saturday that have fresh produce such as milk, cheese, yogurt, vegetables, meat and fruit.
Times have been tough, and Acosta is making sure that people learn about the resources she provides.
“It makes more sense to come together as a collective effort of people and to help each other with what we can,” Acosta says. “You know: You help me, I help you, and it is a mutual aid. It is not charity, it is just solidarity.”
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