Kate McManus

Community Food Programs Intern

Food Gatherers

Abstract Content of Work Learning Outcomes

Food Gatherers is a food bank serving Washtenaw County with the mission to alleviate hunger
Training and monitoring sites Learned how to manage a network of volunteers and staff
and provide access to healthy, nutritious foods to all citizens. One of the many programs that
At the beginning of my internship I participated in several training sessions with site Develop nutrition education for school-aged children
Food Gatherers participates in is the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which is a USDA
coordinators and volunteers to teach the SFSP regulations set forth by the USDA and MDE, Gained leadership and organization skills required to run a successful public health nutrition
funded program that serves children 18 and under who are otherwise missing out on meals program
such as how to order, receive, serve, and record meals, as well as food safety policies. This year,
they would normally get through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs.
meals were ordered and recorded using a mobile app which required a lot of additional Improved communication and logistical skills
The competencies I sought to achieve as a Community Food Programs intern were to gain a
training. Following the training, I conducted first week and four week site visits to ensure sites Cultivated relationships and trust with community members and organizations
better understanding of community nutrition programs, government regulated programs, and
had all the necessary materials, understood the policies, and remained in compliance. Experience with government sponsored public health programs and the audit process
school nutrition standards, as well as improve my communication, leadership, and program
Common issues I was looking for include serving at the correct meal times, ensuring all meal Understand school nutrition standards and challenges with operations
evaluation skills through managing SFSP. My main responsibilities were training and monitoring
components were served in compliance with USDA regulations, sites were following proper
site coordinators and volunteers, communicating with our vendors to provide meals which
food safety rules regarding temperature and leftovers, and that sites were properly recording
meet the nutritional standards set by the USDA, alleviating issues that may arise at the sites,
all meals as they were served and ordering more for the following day.
and teaching nutrition education to a variety of school-aged children.
An important aspect of this years SFSP was our audit by the Michigan Department of
Nutrition education
Education, which provided me with experience dealing with government regulations. With 32
Nutrition education was an important and enjoyable aspect of my internship. At several sites,
SFSP sites throughout Washtenaw County, I improved my managerial and logistical skills.
we taught interactive nutrition education lessons to the SFSP participants. This proved
Additionally, based on feedback collected from sites, parents, and children, I created several
challenging at some sites, where there was a wide variety of ages. The lessons were an
new menus to be implemented next year that highlight foods that children are lacking.
excellent way to interact with the children and parents at the site and supplement their meals
By the end of the summer we served over 35,000 meals to the children, in addition to using
with information they may not receive elsewhere.
grant funds to provide take-home weekend meals and fresh produce on the last day of service.
I also assisted with planning and implementing food distributions and family nights at several
sites. Being able to interact with members of the community at these events helped me to
understand the magnitude of the issue of food insecurity in this area.
As SFSP is just one of many programs that Food Gatherers is involved in, I gained valuable
insight into non-profits and community nutrition programs. This experience has helped prepare
me for a career in program management and evaluation, as well as child health programs and
education.

Introduction
Future Directions
The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is an annual program funded by the USDA to ensure Promote food access in underserved and food insecure communities
food access to children during the summer. SFSP is structured so that the sponsoring agency, Improve school nutrition standards and nutrition education for students
Food Gatherers, trains and monitors various sites throughout the community. Common sites Increase access to local, sustainable foods
include camps, churches, housing units and co-ops, libraries, and summer schools. The meals, Educate children and families about nutrition and cooking
Food distributions and family nights Evaluate community nutrition and health related programs
which must comply with USDA nutrition standards, are provided by the vendor, who in our
Another responsibility of my internship was planning food distributions and family nights to Advocate for and improve government-funded public health initiatives
case was Ann Arbor Public Schools and Ypsilanti Public Schools.
promote summer food. We had two food distributions where any member of the community
could get a bag of free groceries and enjoy a free meal. I also provided basic nutrition and
Challenges of SFSP
cooking tips on how to prepare the produce that we distributed. We also had several family
Ensure all volunteers comply with USDA and MDA policies
BBQs at different sites in which parents and children could enjoy a free meal together. We
The logistics of delivering to 32 sites
provided activities like arts and crafts and face painting to get kids excited about SFSP and keep
Ensuring all meals meet the nutrition guidelines required for reimbursement
attendance high. These events were important in giving me a more personal, intimate
Properly counting and recording all meals
understanding into the complexity of food insecurity.
Keeping attendance numbers high at sites.
MDE Audit
Every few years sponsoring agencies are audited by the Michigan Department of Education.
This year, Food Gatherers was chosen for an audit. The audit took place in August and there
was a lot of work put into preparing for it. We assembled all information on training,
monitoring visits, meal counts, meal production records, and menus for all 32 sites. The audit
was looking at whether our sites were properly trained and following all policies, meals
followed reimbursement requirements, and all meals were accurately counted and recorded.

Data collection and program evaluation Food Gatherers

At the conclusion of SFSP, we collected surveys from site coordinators, parents, and children on
their satisfaction and perception of the program. We specifically focused on improving the
meals. We assessed which foods were unfavorable and which new foods would be beneficial to
add in next year. This led to the creation of several new menus that we hope will be
implemented next year. They feature more plant based protein options, eliminate many
processed foods with added sugar, and add more variety to lunch and dinner which currently
consist mainly of subs and sandwiches. Outside of SFSP, I also assisted with data collection for
two other Food Gatherers projects, CookStars and the Healthy Pantry Conversion Project.
These were valuable tasks that again, brought me into the community to understand how Food
Gatherers is impacting the health of community members through providing healthy food.
Food Gatherers is the largest food bank in Washtenaw County which serves citizens
through providing food to agencies and food assistance programs. They also operate a
community kitchen that provides over 100,000 meals each year and is home to a job
training and internship program for at-risk youth. Food Gatherers puts great emphasis
on distributing nutritious foods and fresh produce through several farming and food
rescue initiatives.