I stopped by the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle in Raleigh last week to begin working on a project with them as a part of my graduate studies. I knew a little about the organization and their efforts to alleviate hunger in our area, but had no comprehension as to their size and scope. Needless to say, I was amazed and moved at what I found. As a part of America's Second Harvest Food Bank Network, their job is to collect food donations from individuals and businesses and to recover food from restaurants that would have normally been thrown away. The food is then redistributed to the poor, homeless, and/or undernourished in the Triangle Area. In addition to this, they have recently started a "Back Pack Buddies" program for children in our area who receive free/reduced-priced lunches in school. The goal of this program is to ensure that at least some of the 50,000+ children in Wake and Durham counties who receive subsidized lunches still have access to quality and nutritious meals on weekends and breaks (spring, summer, Christmas). Bookbags are packed with nutritious foods and delivered to children at various locations (Boys and Girl's Club, YMCA, Housing Authority Communities) to ensure their nutritional needs are continuously met.
My visit mainly focused around their acclaimed "Culinary Job Training Program," so I sat down and talked with the program coordinators about their work. This 11-week training period is made available 4 times each year, with approximately 10 participants each period. The program targets low-income and unemployed members of the triangle to teach them marketable cooking skills. After students graduate the program, the Food Shuttle helps them find stable employment in the culinary field. The program coordinators stress that graduates aren't going straight into executive chef type roles, but instead typically enter entry-level kitchen positions. What is important is that they are learning the "language of the kitchen" and getting some sort of social capital that they wouldn't have had otherwise. The hope is to keep the graduates in meaningful work so that they can be self-sufficient contributors to society and providers for themselves or their families.
Does your business/organization/church have left over cooked food for any reason? Want to help sponsor a food drive or donate food to the hungry? Find your local food bank and donate your time to alleviate hunger and the painful effects of poverty in your area.
