March 2010

Stories from March 2010.

Emily Freund, Food and Farming Initiative Coordinator, P.S. 29

One of the many (in my opinion) pro’s to working in an elementary school is being able to celebrate all those seemingly unimportant “national this or that” weeks you find on the calendar as actual holidays. For example, World Food Day, National Breakfast Week, National Environmental Education Week, Recreational Water Illness Prevention Month (okay, so we don’t celebrate that one), but the list is truly never ending. Lucky for all those farming-enthusiasts out there, March 15-19 is National Agriculture Week! To celebrate, I was able to connect with Spoons Across America in order to receive apple-themed read-aloud books in exchange for taking the time to attend a training session.  

While I have attended my share of informational meetings, what made this one stand out for me was that it was led by two NYC Civic Corps members. While the rest of the various school representatives left with their supplies, I found myself drawn into a conversation comparing my experience with nutrition education from within a school as a Vista versus their work with Spoons Across America as Civic Corps members. Forty-five minutes later, not only had we shared useful resources with one another, we also discovered that we work in adjacent neighborhoods - it's amazing how far-reaching the Americorps and Civic Corps programs are in New York City.

Jenny Lue, Nutrition Access Coordinator, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

One of my roles as a VISTA at Lenox Hill is to recruit and train volunteers for the Food Stamps Assistance Clinic. These volunteers screen people to see if they are eligible and then advise them to come to our Clinic to fill out an application. Sometimes people will attend, but sometimes they just want an application to apply on their own. Volunteers follow up with all of our clients and, as you can probably guess, the best part is when you reach someone whose application went through with no problems and he/she is receiving the correct amount of food stamps.

The most satisfying phone calls, however, are to people who have not decided whether or not they will apply.  Either they want to talk to learn more about food stamps, like how the benefits come on a card instead of actual stamps or how receiving benefits will impact their chances of becoming citizens (it doesn’t) or they just want to talk to someone about how hard it can be to ask for help. It can be difficult, especially for those who have never been on food stamps or any other kind of government assistance, to take the next steps.

Our volunteers, armed with knowledge about food stamps, can answer these questions and have seen success in getting through to many people. Hearing back from clients who say that the only reason they applied was due to the persistent efforts of the volunteers calling and reminding them week after week that the Clinic was open and available really shows how a few hours a week donated to an organization can really change someone’s life.

Rosalie Gethins, City Farms Training Associate -- Just Food

Before serving as a VISTA at Just Food, I was in a different Americorps program. But this year has been very different. I work more independently and in a way I feel like a consultant because I can do different types of projects while still addressing food issues in the community. While working in the City Farms Program, I have met lots of the wonderful trainers that we support, for example; Eric Thomann. And this brings me to my story.

I had evaluated many of Eric’s workshops and we began talking about other things he does, like teaching at the New School and being interested in Japanese storytelling also known as Kimishibai. After telling Eric that I briefly went to school for Graphic Design and love creating art, he brought up the idea of collaborating to create storytelling cards to use at his upcoming workshops. I thought this was very cool and so I agreed. We are still in the process of creating these storytelling cards but this is a great idea especially if you’re giving workshops to youth (as he and I are) because it will definitely keep them interested.

Since collaborating with Eric on this project he has given me numerous opportunities to develop myself professionally. Last month, Eric asked me to speak to his gardening class at the New School. There I explained Just Food, the City Farms Program and how I got involved in hopes of inspiring people my age to want to be involved in keeping the earth green!