A Day in the Life of a Community Dietetic Intern
Today dietetic intern Ann Vu is taking over the blog to share all about her community nutrition rotation at Recipe for Success, a non-profit in Houston, Texas. Ann was able to complete a 3-week rotation with Recipe for Success and her primary tasks were helping with their youth summer camps as well as their vegetable share program. Read more below to find out all about what it is like to be a community dietetic intern at a gardening and food-access based non-profit.
Recipe for Success
Recipe for Success is a non-profit organization that was started to combat childhood obesity by changing the way children understand, appreciate and eat their food and to educate and mobilize the community to provide them with healthier diets. The organization takes place at Hope Farm, where they grow fresh, affordable produce in the midst of a Houston “food desert”. The seven-acre farm is also a healthy gathering place, offering regular cooking and gardening classes for children and adults, weekly produce deliveries to subscribers, weekly onsite markets, pop-up produce markets in the community and public events that celebrate local food and the power of shared meals to build community.
A Day in the Life of a Community Rotation
As a Dietetic Intern for Recipe for Success, I participated in summer camp lesson planning, provided nutrition education and cooking demos to children of all ages, learned about gardening and the seasonal plants, and managed the scorching summer heat. While lesson planning, I had to keep in mind the attention span of the children and created daily hands-on activities. An activity we did is taste test the produce grown at Hope Farms and the produce at the grocery store, while incorporating the geography of each produce. We also cooked and compared the taste between cooked and raw produce.
In addition, I created a business plan that helped outreach their Farmshare Member Subscription to the local community to bring awareness of the affordable produce offered at Hope Farms. From this experience, I learned about the benefits of SNAP Double Up Food Bucks for low income families and how they can utilize this food assistance program to save money. I expanded my knowledge on different marketing techniques, which include targeted mass mailing, newsletter, and in-house promotions.
My favorite part of the rotation was building a close relationship with the children, while teaching them about the bugs in the garden, harvesting farm produce, and tasting fresh picked fruits and vegetables
If you enjoyed this day in the life post, you might also enjoy the following blogs:
Dietetic Rotations- The Intern Scoop on Clinical
Thank you Ann for sharing all about your rotation as a Community Dietetic Intern with Recipe for Success!