Happy Birthday, Jill!

Jill, the Nutrition Programs Manager

School Pantries mean Food Access for Students

Students at area schools are now back for another semester of learning. For some students, returning to school after a winter break may mean a return to more accessible food, and not just through the free and reduced-price lunch program. Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s School Pantry program began  during the 2010-2011 academic year with a pilot pantry at Southern High School in Durham. During the 2011-2012 academic year, we expanded to 4 other middle and high schools in Durham: Hillside New Technical High School, Northern High School, Neal Middle School, and Githens Middle School. The pilot program began with a delivery of fresh fruit to the school every other week. Faculty and staff would take the fresh fruit that Inter-Faith Food Shuttle delivered and set it in baskets in high traffic areas for student to pick up, eat, and take home with them – they set the baskets up in the media center, in the front office, or even passed the fruit out at the busses. Students eyes widen with excitement just seeing Chelsea Travis, our School Pantry Program Coordinator, walk in the doors with a big box of fruit. The fruit is available to all students – meaning that lower income students are not singled out when taking what they need.

But all of the schools where we have started school pantries are high need, having over 50% of the student population enrolled in the free-and-reduced lunch program. Many of the schools have between 70-90% enrolled, and often not all eligible students end up actually signing up for the program. The national school lunch program can provide meals for students during the school day, but many go hungry on the evenings and weekends.

With the expanded pantry program, students can not only supplement their daily diet with fresh, nutritious fruit from IFFS, but they can also take home shelf-stable foods and dry goods as well to create full meals at home. Each school operates their pantry a little bit differently, each according to their own students’ needs, the culture of the school, and how the school decided best fits their needs. Each school found an area to house the pantry – be a storage room, a closet, or an old film area in the media center – and put up regulation shelves to store the food. Many of the students served are identified after coming to the school staff asking for assistance, saying that they hadn’t eaten that weekend, that there wasn’t much food around at home right now, they were hungry, was there anything for them to eat there? Other students are identified by school staff, who recommend or approach students that they know have a particular situation that may include them needing food.

Some school counselors would send bags full of food home with students each week for them and their families, while others would actually drive to the students’ houses and deliver the food.  Some counselors would have the parents call to sign their children up for the program. Some would even work with students, asking what they and their family like to eat, ensuring that the food would get eaten and not just sit on a shelf in the student’s home instead of on a shelf at the school. The support for these pantries from faculty, staff, and parents is critical to ensuring that they run effectively and to reaching more students in need.

Our BackPack Buddies program provides nutritious weekend meals for elementary school children, but middle and high school students face the same problems of hunger.  As students grow older, the stigma of asking for help and of being perceived as “in need” grows as well. Some of the middle school students race down the hall, asking “is that my bag of food?” but stigma of receiving assistance is an issue that often prevents students from receiving the assistance they need, especially in high schools. That’s why IFFS is working with these schools to dismantle stigma and to create a culture where everyone can receive help if they need it.

Southern High School actually has a student health center run through Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES).  In the future, we hope the center will be able to give students “prescriptions” for food from the pantry. Many food insecure children and teens are malnourished, lacking in nutrients essential to healthy growth and development. But with a prescription in hand, students may be less reluctant to go to the pantry for assistance if they feel they need the food to improve their health and have “doctors orders” saying so.

Schools are a natural access point for young people to find more food – why not make it available at a place they are already going five days a week? At Neal Middle School this year, we also held two Mobile Markets at parents nights and cultural event nights at the school.  Mobile Markets are free distribution sites we can set up anywhere with  lots of fresh produce available there in addition to the regular fresh fruit and dry goods offered through the pantry. The food rolls in on our refrigerated trucks, and we set up a market where folks can shop for free. These events not only provided fresh produce and groceries to families in need at a time and place where they could easily access it, but also raised awareness of the pantry program as well.

On average, each pantry served 60-100 students each month, and 100-200 people per month counting others in the students’ households who also benefited from the extra food. While the program is now in the evaluation stage, many of the pantries are already on board to participate next year as well.  We hope to continue to expand those numbers in 2013 and continue working towards creating a hunger-free community, because hunger is unacceptable.

To learn more about our Children's Hunger Relief Programs, visit our website.

Knife Safety

Cooking Matters for Kids offers a fun curriculum for teaching kids how to make healthy choices and prepare food, either by themselves or with their families and friends. During this particular class, the culinary instructor taught children two key principles of safe cooking:  hand washing and knife safety.  Our culinary instructor taught each of the children, which ranged in age from five to ten, how to safely use a knife... a skill they put into use later on in the class by cutting fruit for a fruit salad!

Spring 2013 Interns!

Welcome Megan Dixon!  Megan will be serving as the Food Matters interns for the Spring semester, assisting with Mobile Markets.

Culinary Graduates: the end of one journey and the start of the next

A December Friday just before the holidays, spirits ran high around Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. The reason? It was graduation day for 8 students from our Culinary Job Training Program (CJTP)! With friends and family present, these eight students received their certificates of completion in what is always an emotional and triumphant ceremony, but only after their final test: preparing food for the graduation luncheon! The dishes they prepared included, among others: roasted autumn root vegetables with our farm raised peanut, hubbard, acorn & pumpkin squash with pineapple & papaya;  Creole shrimp & SC stone ground white grits with parmesan & scallions; and roasted sweet potato with fresh basil & white truffle oil. What a menu! I can tell you that it all tasted as good as it sounds!

Many students shared emotional moments with family and friends, recalling the journey they took to be standing there holding that certificate. Inter-Faith Food Shuttle works with human services agencies to recruit unemployed and underemployed individuals with severe life challenges to provide them with the training and resources necessary for a steady career in food service. One student could not be in attendance, but sent a heartfelt note to her fellow classmates, which Chef Khaleel read aloud at the ceremony. Another student chose to share the poem, “Heaven’s Grocery Store” with the class.

This 61st class of students worked extremely hard to get to graduation day. Under the tutelage of professional Chefs Terri Hutter and Khaleel Faheemud-Deen, they learned knife skills, cooking terminology, and got plenty of intensive hands-on cooking experience. They even helped cook for and serve at a catering event for 450 people at Bland Landscaping! These students are also now certified in ServSafe food safety and sanitation practices, and have been coached in professional work habits. They have honed their life skills as well, working with social worker Sharon Mitchell and two social work interns, Andre and Tayana, on how to get along with co-workers, balance life outside the kitchen, and manage stress.

Now armed with a new skill set, these students will be entering the workforce in a permanent way, embarking on their next journey - this one of steady employment and self-sufficiency. They now join the ranks of over 345 students who have graduated from the program since its inception in 1998. Believing that all deserve an opportunity to create better lives for themselves and their families, IFFS job coach Sue Jones works with students to find and maintain employment. Consistently, over 70% of the Culinary Job Training Program graduates are employed eighteen months after graduation at places like Centerplate at the Raleigh Convention Center, university dining halls, hospitals, and other local cafeterias and restaurants.

The students' time during the program is not all about self-improvement, but it is about making a difference in the lives of others as well. During their time at Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, students help feed their community, converting thousands of pounds of food from a variety of food donors into nutritious, well-balanced meals, which are then delivered to local soup kitchens, shelters, and children's programs that feed those in need. CJTP students reduce food waste by taking donated fresh produce into our commercial kitchen, cooking it into nutritious meals, and blast freezing it so that food with a limited shelf life will be available months later. We are so grateful for the contributions they have made to help end hunger in our community during their time with us, so proud of each of their journeys, and so excited to see each of them succeed!

Appreciation of an Uber-Volunteer

Meredith Bradshaw, who has been heavily involved as a volunteer with Inter-Faith Food Shuttle this past year, is now headed south to intern at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, where she will educate guests about the animals. The following is an appreciation written by Lindsay Perry, IFFS Local Produce Coordinator. As her time with us draws to a close, we celebrate Meredith Bradshaw and her many contributions to our work. I have worked with Meredith through the Field Gleaning program. She first showed up about a year ago to glean collards, and since then she’s been willing to try just about anything that needed doing. She’s tackled numerous gleanings and driven IFFS trucks to pick up food from local farms, as well as for the BackPack Buddies program. She’s stepped up to act as a gleaning Field Supervisor, supervising volunteer groups to glean crops, and represented us at community events.

“What kept me coming back was the passion I saw every member of IFFS and their volunteers had for saving food and providing it to those that normally wouldn't have access to it,” said Meredith. “That and the amazing people I worked with—Dennis and Lindsay to name a few.” Aw, shucks.

What do I think of when I think of Meredith?

•  I think of Meredith driving a box truck 10 miles below the speed limit, terrified but willing to drive because we needed her to.
• I think of her cautioning that the truck is getting full and we better stop picking; a voice of reason pushing back against my sometimes crazy desire to pack the truck as full as possible.
•  I think of her many ideas and suggestions, adding to our efficiency and capacity.
• I envision Meredith, finished volunteering with us and heading off to her next volunteer commitment at Piedmont Wildlife Center or the SPCA. Seriously, she will pack in two or more volunteer commitments in the same day. Or she will run a 5K race before gleaning. Meredith is the Uber-Volunteer.

Did I mention she bakes? She is often known to bring gourmet vegan treats for the other volunteers and the farmer—great for donor relations!

“The smiles on the faces of the farmers, and the sheer amount of food we were able to bring back every time made it worthwhile,” Meredith explains. “And also made me wonder why there's such a hunger problem in this country. It has all made me a wiser person when it comes to consuming, making, and sharing the plentiful food I'm blessed with.”

Farewell Meredith! Thanks for all your contributions to stop hunger, and may you find success in all your endeavors, and fabulous new organizations to get involved with in Orlando.

To learn how you can get involved with our Field Gleaning program or other volunteer opportunities visit our website at www.FoodShuttle.com.

Enthused by Enthusiasm: NCSU Soil Management Students Partner with Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Farms and Gardens

This semester, students from Dr. Julie Grossman’s Service Learning for Sustainable Soil Management class (SSC 428) at North Carolina State University (NCSU) have been working with a couple of Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s farms and gardens programs teaching youth about soil science. Students Alyssa Degreenia, Will Hildreth, and John Galloway worked with the IFFS Youth Farmer Training Program (YFTP) apprentices, teaching them about soil carbon. Above, they watch proudly during the YFTP graduation ceremony on the farm.

The NCSU students combined both lecture and hands-on teaching methods to convey their knowledge to the youth involved, but found that it was their enthusiasm and passion for the topics at hand that inspired and motivated the youth the most.

This project not only benefitted the youth by building  their knowledge about composting, vermicomposting, carbon cycles, soil organisms, and potential careers in agriculture, but also allowed the NCSU students to learn how to share their own knowledge and enthusiasm and hone their leadership skills. By figuring out how to effectively transmit what they know to others,  they were able to hone in on their own passions as well.

Part of Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s mantra is “Give a man a fish. Teach a man to fish. Stock the pond for all.”  We believe in the power of education  in so many ways, including teaching folks how to grow their own food, building self-sufficiency with  information and resources , and providing learning opportunities that spread this transformative knowledge throughout the community. This partnership with Dr. Grossman’s class at NCSU is a vital part of this community of knowledge sharing. It is only by working together that we can truly create a hunger-free community and transform the local food economy into a more healthy, just, sustainable, and secure food system that feeds everyone healthy, nutritious food.

Turkey Takeout 2012

Inter-Faith Food Shuttle held its 6^th annual “Turkey Takeout” event this past Friday, November 16^th , distributing turkeys, fresh produce, bread, and pies for Thanksgiving meals to partner agencies and pantries for 500 families in need across the Triangle area this Thanksgiving.  Food is donated by U.S. Foods, Ford's Produce, and other food donors, as well as gleaned from farmers' fields by Inter-Faith Food Shuttle volunteers. This year, we were able to distribute:

• 500 Turkeys
• 1000 lbs of green beans
• 1050 lbs of cabbage
• 3596 lbs of collard greens
• 5000 lbs of sweet potatoes
• 1500 lbs of rice
• 332 lbs of bread
• and 1050 lbs worth of pumpkin pies!

Thanks to Smokey  Norris, Matt Blaisdell, and Bill McGehee of U.S. Foods; Melanie West of Ford's Produce, as well as their driver William; Lindsay Perry, our Local Produce Coordinator; the IFFS Warehouse  staff (Dennis Wooten, Crystal Green, Lance Coley, and Patricia Wallace); and the IFFS Food Recovery & Distribution staff (Don Eli, Elizabeth Rodgers, Tradell Atkins, and Joann O'Neal) for making this possible!

Among the 25 agencies and pantries receiving food to distribute to families they have selected who are most in need:

• Alliance of Aids Services Pantry, Durham
• Benson Medical Center, where IFFS hosts a Medical Mobile  Market, Benson
• Catholic Parish Outreach Pantry, Raleigh
• Church at Clayton Crossing, Clayton
• Community Helpers, Knightdale
• El Vinculo, Siler City
• Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, Dunn
• Family Life Pantry, Smithfield
• Freedom House Shelter, Chapel Hill
• Garner Area Ministries Pantry, Garner
• IFFS School Pantries in Durham
• New Jerusalem  - IFFS Mobile Market, Rocky Mount
• Passage Home, Raleigh
• Positive Generation, Princeville
• Regeneration Development, Pine Tops
• Tarboro Community Outreach Shelter, Tarboro
• The Oaks Community, Raleigh
• Universal Outreach Pantry, Wake Forest

While this distribution of food means that 500 more families will be able to enjoy a holiday meal this week, there are still far too many families who will go without. With 1 in 4 children right here in the triangle at risk for hunger, the need in our community is great.  What’s more, even as people are going hungry, about 130 lbs. of food per person ends up in landfills (USDA).  As a grassroots response to food waste at the local retail and wholesale level, our Food Recovery and Distribution Program collects healthy, perishable food from over 300 donors and quickly distributes it to agencies in the greater Triangle area on 13 refrigerated trucks.  Additionally, the excess production of area farms is a rich source of fresh, healthy produce. Our Field Gleaning Program connects farmers who have excess crops with people who need fresh produce. We bring a farmer-trained volunteer crew, gather the produce, and distribute it to people in need in our seven county area.

Find out how you can help area families need on our website here.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Pavement: Planted!

Inter-Faith Food Shuttle has officially kicked off our “Plant The Pavement!” workshop series, with both youth and community events running November 8 and 9th at Longview School and our new Hoke Street Training Center in Raleigh Nov. 10-11^th. Along with Longview School, we are a Regional Outreach Training Center (ROTC) for Growing Power. As an ROTC, we a host series of urban agriculture workshops for youth, established farmers, and community members, bringing Growing Power’s innovative model of food production and community empowerment to North Carolina.

On Thursday and Friday at Longview School, students from schools across the region came to learn about intensive agriculture techniques in a very hands-on way from experts including Will Allen, the Growing Power staff, and Inter-Faith Food Shuttle staff members.

Participants learned about aquaponics systems to grow vegetables and fish simultaneously, how to build a hoop house for season extension growing year-round, how to grow high-profit micro-greens, and how to compost. They also had some powerful and insightful discussions in break-out sessions on food justice.

Check out this inspiring photo project from the workshop days at Longview, created by Tes Thraves, Youth and Community-Based Food Systems Coordinator of the NC Center for Environmental Farming Systems:

At Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s new Hoke Street Training Center, community members came from all over for a two-day workshop on these topics. Participants asked questions, dug into the material and the soil, met other people as passionate as they (and we) are about creating a better food system, and walked away with greater knowledge and more skills to change it!

Thanks to all who came to support and participate in our first Plant the Pavement workshops! Look for more to come!