Grandmothers as Entrepreneurs
As baby boomers age, they are contradicting strongly held past traditions on the role of grandparents in society. According to the American Society on Aging, “Boomers want to be on top and in charge. They believe they know best, and they act independently based on this self-confidence. They are unafraid to act as individuals abiding by none of the old rules, and they feel no lack of education or self-esteem to steer their own course”. They want to explore and experiment and are actively learning and challenging themselves. “to explore and shape their environments to fit their particular needs” (Schulz and Heckhausen, 1996).
This article illustrates how grandmothers and grandfathers are working in the community to encourage, support, promote and develop social entrepreneurship among youth through a non traditional program.
Community leaders Zein Bertacchi and her sister Rima Said have helped Chess Without Borders raise funds for local and global charities since its inception. Zein, a microbiologist who retired from working in Infection Control, used her talent as a gourmet cook to bring home-made meals to families and friends at chess tournaments. She is going beyond her regular mission to bring cooking lessons to the public. Zein and her award-winning volunteers have raised funds for a variety of global as well as local causes such as flood and tornado victims in Illinois.
Chess Tournaments uniquely present many social, educational and humanitarian opportunities for exploring possibilities. Because tournaments gather large numbers of people from all ages, socioeconomic, ethnic and geographic backgrounds, they facilitate a fertile mix of ideas. Another factor is the length of time that the tournaments last. The US Chess Federation tournaments last all day as there are 5 rounds where winners and losers all play each round. This enables gatherings to be social and have time to enjoy local food that is available at the site.
Chess Without Borders, a grassroots non-profit organization, has established a tradition of raising funds for a variety of local and global non-profit organizations since its inception. The funds have been raised predominantly from food sales at chess events held over the last several years. About $180,000 has been donated to various charities. This has been possible through the generosity of youth and adult mentors like Zein and Rima.
This unusual collaboration between food and chess began in 2005 when the founder of the chess program in Barrington, Rishi Sethi, was invited with his Barrington High School Team to teach chess in an orphanage in Leon, Mexico. 14 year old Rishi approached Zein Bertacchi to help him raise funds for his high school team to go to Mexico. A Grandmaster chess event was held at Barrington High School in Barrington, Illinois and Zein volunteered as the Head Chef for the evening providing a Gourmet Italian meal to the visitors and families who attended the event. The money raised from the event was used for the chess trip to Mexico for a group of 20 chess enthusiasts to teach at the Don Bosco Orphanage in Leon, Mexico. Watch a video of youth volunteer accomplishments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQe0Y1FT3Co&t=55s
Since then a tradition has been established where 100% of the food sales from chess events are donated to charities. Zein Bertacchi has been instrumental in providing mentoring, enthusiasm and labor to hundreds of other volunteers who have also donated services in order to be able to raise money for donations. In fact the social entrepreneurship advanced the chess program to become wildly successful, “beyond my wildest imagination,” said Rishi Sethi, eventually making it possible for the 2008 US Chess Champion Grandmaster Yury Shulman to join the program in 2006. This was largely because of mentorship and encouragement provided by adult mentors like Zein Bertacchi.
She has generously donated her skills as a cook and enthusiasm as a gifted chef inspiring hundreds of students and parents to help as well. She has an interesting heritage being born in Palestine raised in Jordan and the US and being married to an Italian. This cross-cultural experience has been wonderful for her knowledge of food and cooking. At first the children were hesitant to try her middle eastern food but now she is affectionately called, “the falafil lady”
Zein has won awards for her unique culinary creations. She has a wide range of expertise from Italian (she is married to an Italian) to Middle Eastern dishes. Zein was born in Jaffa, Palestine, then moving to Jordan and then to the US. Being a product of 3 cultures influences her cooking techniques and her personality.
This illustrates how integral the role of mentors is for youth to become successful in their quests to achieve goals. More important is how much both the youth and the adult mentors learn from each other. These programs give confidence to both youth as well as adults and makes it interesting to navigate novel ideas of entrepreneurship. Many of the students who engaged in humanitarian projects have gone on to build their own businesses and continued actively supporting social causes. 16 year old Ethan Gagliano said, “Being around mentors and watching their dedication to helping so many people was what motivated me to want to give back to those in need.” These youth develop drive and motivation that comes from working together.
Youth who worked with adult role models like Zein won the prestigious Presidential Youth Service Awards from the White House. Here is a short video of the winners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4nfTuMb0sU&t=1s
Presidential Award winning youth volunteers are:
Ethan Gagliano, Pranav and Prashant Ramachandra, Prathik Kandimalla, Jack and Jane Bradley, Vishal and Rohan Ahuja, Eleanore van Marwijk Kooy, Aryan and Ayushi Shah, Toby Schwartz, Siddharth and Abhijeet Gehlaut, Nabeel Rasheed, Sanjaya and Sahitya Maheswaran, , Joelle and Brandon Moy, Dominic Oetinger, Stephen Zhu, Sophia Cai, Jocelyn Ding, Duniya Diyadawagamage.
For more information visit: www.shulmanchess.com/tournaments
