Belonging & Inclusion

The Loss

After a devastating rivalry loss, a high-school football team is taken to a food kitchen where serving and eating alongside unhoused people dissolves the social distance between the two groups and changes how the players see them. A month later, the same people arrive at Northgate's playoff game in new Northgate jerseys with pom-poms and reserved seats at the 50-yard line, demonstrating that the experience created lasting belonging rather than a one-time act of charity.