Building Future Campus Kitchen Leaders
Students returned to classes this month, but just recently college campuses were bare. If not for an enthusiastic group of high school volunteers, most Campus Kitchens would have lacked summer manpower too.
“It keeps our doors open and it keeps our clients fed with that same quality and customer service that we would want for them,” said Jenny Bird, coordinator at the Campus Kitchen of Saint Louis University.
Bird said around 90 percent of the volunteers that arrive to prep and deliver meals to the Campus Kitchen clients in the summer are high school students. Many Campus Kitchens, particularly at St. Louis University, University of Massachusetts Boston and Washington and Lee University, rely on high school students to help run the show.
Dining Hall Cook Feeds Campus Kitchen's Soul
Sharon Hope has a sixth sense. She can enter a food pantry, spy any ingredient, and turn it into something delicious for the meal recipients at the Campus Kitchen at Marquette University.
“I love going to the food pantry so I can scour anything and everything to make sure it’s the best we have,” said Hope. “It makes my mind go a million miles a minute.”
For almost eight years since the Campus Kitchen began rescuing unused food from the Marquette University dining halls Hope has lent her sixth sense, cooking knowledge, and passion to feed. During those years, the careful cook progressed from simply wrapping up the meals she sent over to the Campus Kitchen to teaching students basic kitchen tricks and leading culinary job training lessons.
High School Intern Gains Key Experience through Campus Kitchen
Regina Valdez, a Massachusetts high school student, began an internship with the Campus Kitchen at University of Massachusetts Boston last summer shy and unsure. Her greatest fear: public speaking.
"I was reluctant to articulate myself before an audience or stranger, much less a single one of my peers," Valdez wrote. "My internship pushed me to confront my shyness."
Through her internship, Valdez became part of the Campus Kitchen leadership team, helping to run delivery shifts, and meeting daily with the summer camps the Campus Kitchen serves meals to. Soon, Valdez stepped in to plan nutrition lessons and lead volunteers. By September, Valdez helped organize a nutrition carnival for the Campus Kitchen's elementary school partner. In October, she stood up in front of dozens to give a Campus Kitchen presentation at the CKP national conference.
Read more: High School Intern Gains Key Experience through Campus Kitchen
A Fresh Take on Food Rescue and Healthy Kids Snacks
Volunteers with the Campus Kitchen at St. Louis University sometimes return with heaps of produce from Trader Joe’s food recovery trips. Recently the team brought back hundreds of bananas.
Many of the bananas turned to mush before students could incorporate them into meals. Then something clicked with Candace Guiffre, a Master’s candidate in nutrition and physical performance and now the Campus Kitchen nutrition educator. She could help the Campus Kitchen combat food waste while incorporating valuable nutrients in the snacks kids eat.
“It was two things really that came together,” said Guiffre. “I was incorporating healthy things into meals for children, but then I was noticing we were throwing a lot of food away.”
Read more: A Fresh Take on Food Rescue and Healthy Kids Snacks
Mr. Marriott serves the Community through Campus Kitchen
Bill Marriott, Jr. and other top executives from the Marriott International headquarters chopped strawberries, kneaded dough, and mixed salad alongside Campus Kitchen and Hotel & Restaurant Management students Wednesday, May 18 at Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Md. as part of the company's "Spirit to Serve our Communities" Day.
"Our culture is one of taking care of people and my mom and dad started the business with that in mind," Mr. Marriott later told the group of 30 students.
Through cooking healthy meals with the Campus Kitchen, Mr. Marriott helped care for residents of The Dwelling Place, a transitional housing facility for formerly homeless families, as 1800 plus employees from headquarters spanned out across the Washington, D.C. area to care for others.Read more: Mr. Marriott serves the Community through Campus Kitchen
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