The summer before my sophomore year in college I began volunteering at my local food pantry, St. Peter's Haven. My time here has taught me a tremendous amount about food insecurity and the importance of nutrition education. I have been able to be involved in various aspects of the non-profit organization from sorting food, promoting the pantry, and helping distribute food.
My first year at the pantry, after the patrons left, most of my time was spent organizing, weighing, and sorting the different foods that were donated from the local grocery stores and community residents as well as the fresh produce that was bought by the pantry. I was able to apply what I learned from my classes regarding food safety and foodservice. During the hours when the pantry was open to the clients, I developed my customer service skills by attending to the needs of the clients whether they were asked in English or Spanish.
During my second year, I helped with the USPS Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive where over a thousand pounds of food was donated. The community garden was also built with the help of City Green, which provided the seeds and information to properly grow the vegetables. The pantry clients could use the garden to grow their own produce for free, all they needed to do was maintain the area free from weeds. By my second year, I had enough knowledge of how the pantry operated and was given the liberty to direct other volunteers on what was needed to be done.
This past year, I was given the opportunity to be a summer intern at St. Peter's Haven. I was in charge of promoting the pantry to the city of Clifton. After the pantry was awarded a grant to buy food items for the patrons, the pantry needed to ensure to increase the percent of children that received food if they were eligible. I attended a PTA meeting where I spoke about the resources that St. Peter's Haven offers aside from food such as flu vaccinations, school supplies for the children during August, and coats during the winter. I presented the information in both English and Spanish and was able to recruit more people who were eligible for the services mentioned.
The second project I worked on was attempting to make the healthier food items easier to identify for the clients. I separated the whole grains breads from non-whole grain breads and marked the shelves with labels stating "healthier selection" in both English and Spanish. Another change was made in the "extras" stand that contains donated food that does not belong to a specific category such rice, canned vegetables, peanut butter, etc. Some items that could be found on the "extras" stand could range from cake mixes, baked beans, and organic honey, depending on the donations that were received. I grouped similar items together and placed the healthier options on the top shelf that was also at eye level (could be easily accessed). I also placed the calories dense foods such as chocolate cookies and potato chips on the lowest shelf (least accessible) in an attempt to make the healthier food choices more prominent. The top shelf was also labeled with the same tags that were on the bread stand.
The third project that I worked on this past summer was helping create a USDA Food Defense Plan and updating the website for St. Peter's Haven. When the USDA inspector arrived for their yearly inspection I was able to guide him throughout the pantry and show him how and where we stored the food that the pantry received. The Executive Director and the Pantry Manager were with me in case if I needed help or if I missed a detail during the tour. The pantry passed the inspection however the inspector did recommend creating a Food Defense Plan. When I was developing the plan, I made sure to follow the guides that were provided by the USDA and incorporated HACCP principles. I submitted the document to my supervisor where she made additional adjustments to the document.
Overall, this past summer was successful, but if I could change one thing, I would have liked to have done a cooking demo for the clients, using foods that they typically receive monthly. Otherwise, providing recipes would also be a good alternative in promoting healthier meals.