Hello everyone! My name is Julie Dunnigan and I am a rising junior at Penn State majoring in Nutritional Sciences with a dietetics option. I live in New Jersey right across the bridge from Philadelphia, and 10 minutes from The Food Bank of South Jersey– where I have been spending the first part of my summer.

The Food Bank of South Jersey is the largest source of food assistance in Southern Jersey. In operation for over 26 years, it has provided the equivalent of 76 million meals to people and families in need. But, over the years the city requiring the most assistance has been Camden, NJ. This is where I have been spending all of my time while working with the food bank.

Future chefs?

The food bank’s mission statement explains that its not only important to feed people, but to teach them about nutrition and healthy eating habits as well. So, I have been assisting with teaching classes to elementary and middle school students on the importance of healthy eating and cooking. At first I was nervous about how the kids would take to the lesson plans- middle schoolers are notorious for being tough to handle. But, these kids aren’t only interested in learning, they’re down right enthusiastic!

For the first few weeks I was sent down to a public middle school to help out with an after school program for boys. Another intern and I would help the instructor with a short lesson at the beginning of each session about a nutrition topic while the volunteer chief got the ingredients washed for that days recipes. We would have the kids take part in the demonstrations, my favorite being when the kids had to add up the amount of fat in a Whopper and scoop the equivalent amount of fat out of a can of Crisco. We were all shocked at how much fat there was! During the cooking portion of the class, the boys were responsible for all the preparation, cooking, and clean up with that day’s healthy recipes.

Tastier and more nutritious than fast food

In addition to the cooking classes, I’m also involved in a program the food bank runs which educates children on the farm-to-fork process. The kids learn how the crops from farms end up in grocery stores and, ultimately, on our plates. This activity is geared toward the younger students, in 3rd and 4th grade. The most amazing part about working with all these different kids is that I have yet to find one who does not want to participate in the activities. The curiosity they show makes teaching them so much more fun!

While I’ve had an amazing time working with the Food Bank of South Jersey, I’m also very excited to start the second and most thrilling part of my work this summer, in Africa. For the month of July I will be helping develop a farm for an orphanage in southern Ghana. I look forward to sharing my adventures with everyone when I get back in early August!