News

Building Future Campus Kitchen Leaders

Written by Jasmine Touton Friday, 23 September 2011 14:07

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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.

Spreading the Health through Summer Feeding

Written by Jasmine Touton Friday, 23 September 2011 10:27

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Every week this summer, Danny Burke, Coordinator for the Campus Kitchen at the Northwestern University, loaded 97 loaves of white bread into a shopping cart at the local grocery store and packed them into the trunk of his car.

Two weeks into The Sodexo Foundation’s Feeding Our Future program, which has the Campus Kitchen team spreading those loaves with peanut butter and jelly, Burke pulled up to the grocery store next to a truck delivering fresh baked, local bread.

The truck got Burke thinking: how could he make the 22,000 meals served to children who don’t have access to lunch in the summer even healthier?

Training the Next Generation of Campus Kitchen Leaders

Written by Jasmine Touton Monday, 11 July 2011 12:52

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A return visit from a North Carolina church youth group to the Campus Kitchen at Wake Forest University this June did more than keep summer feeding operations strong. These visiting volunteers built and beautified new spaces for teaching and eating with local Campus Kitchen agencies.

The group’s first stop: Courtney Elementary School where a recent loss of funding created an obstacle to outdoor learning.

“They have the books and the basics, but as far as extra funding for field trips and more creative learning, they can’t do that,” said Shelley Sizemore, Campus Kitchen coordinator.

Campus Kitchen Raises the Bar on Raised Bed Gardens

Written by Jasmine Touton Wednesday, 06 July 2011 10:03

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It’s not a scene out of a Dr. Seuss book. This May, students with the Campus Kitchen at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire built garden beds raised several feet off the ground not to be whimsical, but to attract a new kind of volunteer to their community garden.

“The Campus Kitchen created a special herb garden to allow access for disabled and physically limited volunteers. In partnership with the Best Buddies program, which pairs a college student with a child who has disabilities, the Campus Kitchen helped unveil the finished raised beds garden at the beginning of June.

“A lot of them have never done something like this before,” said Ashley McCarthy, AmeriCorps VISTA coordinator of the Campus Kitchen. “For both the college student and the kid with disabilities, it is a learning experience.”

Dining Hall Cook Feeds Campus Kitchen's Soul

Written by Jasmine Touton Wednesday, 06 July 2011 09:48

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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

Written by Jasmine Touton Thursday, 30 June 2011 09:59

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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.