“It changed the way I shop. Now I buy the bruised or wilted produce because I know that it could end up being wasted because it doesn’t match the ideal image,” he says.

Steitz graduated from Wake Forest University last May, and he’s spending a year in the Pro Humanitate Institute’s Campus Kitchen as part of AmeriCorps VISTA, a national service program aimed at ending poverty. He’s one of nine students working with local nonprofits as part of this federal program.

As a young teen, Steitz was thrust into a situation where he was responsible for planning meals and going to the store to purchase groceries on a limited budget. He had to rely on neighbors for transportation, learning firsthand about the challenges that families facing food insecurity experience.

“There’s a relationship between unhealthy eating and food insecurity. It’s not always people’s first choice to eat unhealthy. There are misconceptions about what it takes to prepare food, and sometimes people don’t have full kitchens or the right tools. Others, like me, have no transportation or are working multiple jobs and don’t have time,” Steitz says.

Building capacity

As a freshman, Steitz wanted to continue the volunteer work he did in high school. Campus Kitchen’s consistent two-hour shifts allowed him to easily fit volunteer work into every semester.

“As a student, you don’t need to be expert on food systems to have your first experience with Campus Kitchen. It opens up conversations that we otherwise wouldn’t have been aware of,” Steitz says.

The nonprofit, which is operated by about 30 students and a leadership team, picks up food every day from The Fresh Market and Lowes Foods, as well as extra food from the university’s cafeterias, and delivers it to its 12 community partners. It’s served to children, and their parents are also able to pick up food to take home. Food distribution continues over the summer through internships.

“We’re saving and salvaging food that’s fine to eat and matching that with food access. At El Buen Pastor Latino Community Services, we bring a meal around 2 on Monday afternoons, which helps strengthen the learning of kids. We also bring produce for parents to help incentivize them to keep their kids in that program and bring more people to the table,” says Brad Shugoll, the institute’s assistant director of philanthropy and service.

Because the Pro Humanitate Institute houses the AmeriCorps VISTA program, these nonprofits benefit from having full-time employees, like Steitz, at no cost. It’s called the Winston-Salem Community Action Coalition, and the institute manages the grant funding application, required paperwork, and training, and the VISTA team members meet each week and talk about the various needs they’ve encountered.

“It creates community, and since its cohort-based, they are meeting, sharing, and looking to collaborate. Poverty isn’t just one thing, and isn’t addressed in one way,” Shugoll says. “Health care, housing, hunger ... they’re seeing how their work is intersected. All approaches are needed and can help support each other.”

Something’s cooking

Kids Cooking Coalition, which kicks off this month at three sites in Forsyth County, is another great example of collaboration between the community and Pro Humanitate Institute, Shugoll says.

The program was founded by Dr. Margaret Savoca, a former nutritionist, and stemmed from her longtime volunteer work with a local garden club. 

Students at Cook Elementary, Polo Park Recreation Center, and the YWCA’s Best Choice Center will have six weeks of after-school programming with university students who will teach them cooking skills and nutrition.

“Kids Cooking Coalition engages kids and creates passion and excitement about cooking,” Shugoll says. “Our volunteers return to the same site for six weeks, so they are able to build relationships with the kids and enhance what these organizations are already offering.”

Students learn about good and bad dairy, whole grains, practical cooking skills, how to use a knife and measuring tools, as well as using small appliances. At the end of each week, they create a meal using their new skills and share it. Kids' Cooking Coalition hopes to offer the program again this summer at Positive Image Performing Arts.

Last year, some of the students enrolled at this summer camp took ownership of the program and created their own meal using federal nutrition guidelines. They spent time reviewing the food requirements with Wake’s summer interns and debated what to include in the meal, which the interns purchased and then help students prepare and eat.

“Kids can take as much ownership as possible over their food choices. This was our second year of the summer feeding program, and we want to continue to grow our relationship and provide access to food over the summer when kids aren’t getting school lunches,” Shugoll says.

“People are knowledgeable and know what’s best for them. Usually they have to make hard decisions on cost or they don’t have access. Decisions are sometimes perceived as choices, but it’s more complex than that. Once they’re exposed to different foods, like avocado and hummus, they like it,” he says.

Campus Kitchen offers volunteer opportunities for families to volunteer together to sort and distribute food, especially during the summer when only interns are working. Learn more at phi.wfu.edu.

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By The Numbers

Campus Kitchen, which is housed in Wake Forest University’s Kitchin Residence Hall, became one of 65 members of the National Campus Kitchens Project in 2006. Its mission is to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities. It had its origins in 1998 when students recognized how much food was being wasted in campus cafeterias. From January to November 2018, Wake’s Campus Kitchen had:

• 320 volunteers

• 2,522 volunteer hours logged

• 6,255 meals prepared and served from recovered food

• 23,528 pounds of fresh produce and food recovered from local grocery stores and distributed across 12 community partners