Archive for December, 2009

December 18, 2009

Our Point of View: Food Stamps

Author: Brady Koch

The New York Times has an ongoing editorial series focused on encouraging debate on a variety of relevant social topics. Recently the topic was about the perception that people receiving food stamps eat poorly.

Food Stamps: The Economics of Eating Well (source: New York Times)

I think this article provides a good summary of all of the major opinions on the issue. To chime in on the topic myself, my interviews with our clients show that the majority of food stamp recipients are using the benefit to access healthier food that they could not get otherwise.

As a food bank we can be limited to providing the community with whatever may be donated in a given week. The food stamp program is a great way for our clients to supplement the donated food with items that their family may not be able to get from a pantry. The next outreach step could include client education on how to best use their food stamp EBT cards to maximize nutrition and food stamp dollars.

Brady Koch
Director of Agency Relations & Programs

December 16, 2009

Job Opening: Nutrition Manager

Author: Brady Koch

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida Inc. is seeking an enthusiastic person for our new Nutrition Manager position. This person will be responsible for a variety of aspects of nutrition and its impact on our fight against hunger in the community. Specifically, the Nutrition Manager will be involved in community education, advocacy and nutritional analysis for our variety of programs. Please review the attached job description below to see if you’d be a good fit for this exciting new opportunity.

We are seeking an individual with the right education and experience educating both adults and children. Send me your resume if interested.

Brady Koch
Director of Agency Relations & Programs
bkoch@foodbankcentralflorida.org

________________________________________________________________________________________

Title:  Nutrition Manager
Reports to:  Director of Agency Relations & Programs

Closing Date: January 8, 2010

General Summary:
Serve as the nutrition resource for Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, the community, and member agencies by designing, scheduling and facilitating nutritional educational classes and events. Educational outreach efforts will be focused on agencies receiving TEFAP commodities. The Nutrition Manager will also be responsible to identifying and evaluating the nutritional value of food provided to the community through our various programs.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• Schedule and organize nutrition education programs for all Second Harvest Programs, at various locations, to children and adults.
• Work with agency relations to determine the nutrition education needs of our partner feeding program’s clientele.
• Specialize and provide priority educational activities to agencies and clients participating in the USDA’s commodities program: TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program)
• Use Second Harvest and Feeding America resources to develop and meaningful nutrition index to be applied to our donated food.
• Implement nutrition indexing for all programs of Second Harvest.
• Have a focus on childhood hunger and childhood obesity in food insecure households.
• Advocate for Second Harvest at community functions.
• Perform other duties as assigned by direct supervisor.

Job Specifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree or Associate’s Degree with equivalent experience.
• Ability to multitask in a fast paced environment.
• Ability to work well with the general public
• Organized and detail oriented
• Ability to meet deadlines
• Must have excellent communications skills
• Successfully pass pre-employment drug test screening
• Successfully pass Level II background check required by childhood programs.
• Bi-lingual is a plus.

Working Conditions:
50% outside travel to agency locations; 50% normal office conditions.

Competencies:

•  Attention to Detail
• Communications
• Customer Focus
• Problem Solving
• Perception/Judgment
• Listening
• Dependability
• Teamwork
   

Disclaimer:  The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification.  They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills of personnel so classified.

December 15, 2009

Kids Cafe: Designed for Kids, Strengthening Families

Author: Brady Koch

The following story is based on a telephone interview with Cassandra Williams at the Pine Hills Community Church, the site of one of our Kids Cafes.

A child was walking from school toward the Pine Hills Church Kids Café, when another youngster approached him.

 

 “Where you going”, asked the child.

“To the church”, replied the other.

“What’s there?”

 “Food!”

 “Really!”

 “Yeah”

“Can I go too?”

“Sure, they don’t mind”

Once at the church, the children were served an after school meal and then participated in the many activities the community center has to offer.

The new child returned home that afternoon and told his mother all about the Kids Café. The next day, both the mom and the child showed up.

The mom was told she would not be able to receive a prepared meal since Kids Cafes are for kids only, but since she was already there and had expressed need, she would be provided with groceries from their food pantry which is stocked with products from Second Harvest Food Bank.

As time went by, the mom began to accompany her son to the church every afternoon. The child would get his usual meal and mom would sit by his side, having brought her own meal prepared from the pantry products she had received.  Afterwards, they would linger over homework, reading improvement activities and much more.

The site supervisor tells us that the Kids Café acted as a magnet, bringing mother and child closer together. “This same story has played out on several occasions”, she commented.

 “The parents are learning from their children, and as a consequence the family grows stronger.”

 

Santos Maldonado
Childhood Hunger Programs Manager

December 14, 2009

Partner Agencies Working Together to Save Thanksgiving

Author: Erin Gray

At Second Harvest we have over 600 partner agencies who together help to fight and end hunger.  One of our partner agencies in Orange County is Mt. Sinai Seventh-Day Adventist Church.  Their food pantry is open every Wednesday from 1 p.m. -6 p.m. to help feed individuals and families in need. They are one of our larger agencies, and they serve over 1000 individuals each month from their pantry.  We talked to Amy Walker from Mt. Sinai Seventh Day Adventist church for a success story, and she shared their Thanksgiving experience with us.

This year for Thanksgiving, the volunteers at the church were able to feed 2,501 of: Orlando’s low income residents, disabled, and the senior citizen, and homeless population in the Parramore district with a unique mobile outreach concept. Reaching out this way is particularly effective for those who have difficulty making it to a food pantry.

“Most of the people we were able to feed were because we knocked on their door. Some of the people we saw were amputees or blind and the rest was mostly senior citizens. The majority of them were in no condition to come out of their homes and stand in line especially in the rain. We had to go to them!” says Pastor Herman L. Davis.

Pastor Davis and his team spent two years redesigning their Thanksgiving distribution to feed many more people. Unlike past years the church had access to two large mobile units that can fully prepare and cook upward of 10,000 hot meals at any location it’s driven too. This allowed the volunteers to go to the people that needed their care the most, rather than have individuals to find them.

After an entire day of cooking prep, the Mt. Sinai Community Outreach Volunteer team was ready for their first stop. At 1 p.m. on Thanksgiving Eve served a menu of collard greens, mixed greens, curried egg plants, turkey breast, rice and gravy, baked whole turkey and mash potatoes, which some of the food for the meals were received from Second Harvest.  And they served 900 hot meals while people waited in light rain.   Later that day the team was joined by Loving Hut restaurant who had witnessed what the volunteers were accomplishing and wanted to join in and help. Loving Hut  prepared an additional 200 vegetarian meals consisting of egg rolls, rice, and vegetables.

On Thanksgiving Day a three man team; Pastor Davis, Ken Unick, and Dave Worrell distributed another 700 hot meals donated by the Salvation Army to the Maxwell Terrace community which are both partner agencies of Second Harvest Food Bank. A third wave of volunteers went out again on the Sunday immediately following Thanksgiving Day and fed an additional 501 people. While this initiative had been planned well in advance the outcome is still unbelievable.

The volunteers have returned to their bi-weekly Wednesday food distributions from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. where they package a week’s worth of groceries for the public at the church located at 2600 Orange Center Blvd. Orlando, FL 32805. “Mt. Sinai is full of compassionate people who are dedicated to touching the individual lives of the community, these volunteers are a blessing and serious about the impact of our outreach,” says member Timotheie Aurelien.

Erin Gray
Agency Relations Manager

December 8, 2009

Before We Hit the Field, Benefits Connection Hits the Books

Author: Brady Koch

Food Stamp experts aren’t born, they’re trained. In the past year our Benefits Connection food stamp outreach team has grown from four staff to ten. In that time we’ve learned that if we pick specialists with people skills we can always train the food stamp policy later.

It takes a month from the first work day to be able to go out into the field solo. Our training process is a combination of classroom learning, self-study and shadowing. Our greenhorns are paired up throughout their training period with our Benefits Connects veterans who have seen nearly everything possible while helping our clients get assistance.

The learning doesn’t end after first month though. We have trainings and best practice sessions throughout the year for all of our Benefits Connection staff. It’s a great way to team build and enhance our program. A well educated team is better equipped to serve the community.

Learn more about our Benefits Connection Program.

 

Brady Koch
Director of Agency Relations & Programs