It hit me this morning on my metro ride into the district that I have exactly one month left of this internship experience. It’s more than a job, more than something to do to fill my summer, more than something to add to my resume. It really is an experience, full of ups and downs, unexpected tasks and lessons to be learned at every corner. I’ve been here 3 weeks now and I have learned more about myself, the power of passionate people, crazy ideas becoming reality and the day to day life in a non-profit than I ever could have imagined.
When I first learned about this internship, I was told that I would be making an evaluation tool to see what students gain from being a part of the Campus Kitchen Project. I had a small idea of what that would look like but as my first couple days showed, my job description has expanded and shifted due to the nature of change on the national level of CKP. I came at a time of transition and so it looks like the information I am getting can be really useful for the organization to move forward and expand. My first few days were filled with immersing myself into this organization and the kitchens across the nation. I did this by reading every CKP school blog I could find, looking at their websites, facebooks and twitters, and trying to get a sense of the culture of the programs. I learned so much about food insecurity, US poverty and hunger and the creative ideas students across the nation come up with doing this! It really helped me get a feel of some schools and how they function from an outsider perspective.
Gradually my days changed to actually getting to talk to coordinators, paid staff, students and professors. This has been great! When I talked to coordinators I get to see what they do day to day to keep their kitchens running smooth and their students engaged. They have to deal with a lot in order to keep volunteers around, agency relationships going, events planned, reports filled out and donations coming. I am amazed at everything they do! I think my favorite part is talking to the students though. Every time I get an email response back or hang up from talking to them on the phone I am blown away. I am so impressed by the level of maturity, commitment and passion my generation has. These are college students who had the same issues I had – how to balance a hard school load and a social life and everything else – yet they continually give up a lot of time to lead or serve with their local kitchen. My favorite conversation was with a girl at Union College who basically picked up a dying CKP and decided to keep it going. She created leadership role titles, got volunteers, kept community relationships up all while in her junior year of college. She said, “I want to show people that it [hunger] is real and it is happening and that you have the power to change things”. She has a real understanding of her community’s needs and her peer’s needs and she’s not okay with how things are. She is my hero and I’ve only had a 15 minute conversation with her! Poverty and hunger seem like huge complex impossible issues but I now know firsthand that there is a dent in the problem and there are people out there standing up and not allowing it to be okay in their communities.
My days are really flexible as I usually am just trying to get ahold of people and gather information. This has been a major advantage as it allows me to also get to see things happening at DC Central Kitchen. I’ve fulfilled the typical internship duties by helping fold, stuff, stamp and mail letters for the development part of DCCK who shares an office with CKP. I love hearing about their event planning and what they’re up to and even helping with their random tasks they bring to me and the other intern! As I wrote about before, getting to serve in the kitchen was a great way to see DCCK at the heart of the organization. Last Friday though was by far my favorite day here. I had the honor to attend DCCK’s Culinary Job Training graduation. I could probably write a very long essay on how great it was and how impacting it was to me. I had a huge smile, goose bumps or tears the entire time if that gives you an idea. The 20 graduates came into the room dancing and singing to Kirk Franklin’s I smile and I knew it was going to be an incredible time. There were so many unbelievable speakers – from DCCK staff, a previous graduate who now works at DCCK and whose brother was now graduating, to a graduate herself and finally a guest speaker – Marian Wright Edelman, who founded the Children’s Defense Fund. It was a time of celebration and inspiration as they cheered on the people who worked hard to complete this training in order to see their lives turn around. One man was in jail 23 years and he was there graduating with this skill and had just gotten his high school GED. The odds are stacked against him and yet that’s not how he’s spending his life! He is taking an active stance to see it be different. I am amazed at what DCCK does to empower people and take circumstances that seem impossible to overcome and shatters those so that so many people have new lives full of hope! They create so many opportunities for people to have better, richer lives.
This next month I’m looking forward to finding concrete ways students grow from participating in a CKP and creating a tool that can help both Baylor and CKP gauge this in the future. I am also hoping to do some more DCCK things, like help Matt with the Truck Farm one day and hopefully be involved with Boot Camp plans for CKP next month. I am so thankful for this placement – it was random and last minute but a total gift from God. It has come in the perfect time in my own life in terms of personal growth and knowledge with food and social justice issues and has taught me so much already about what it looks like in the mundane day to day work to keep a non-profit running and expanding. I am getting a glimpse at the good and the bad and meeting incredible people.
-Kelcy