Community Resilience & Local Food Internship

Position Title: 

Community Resilience & Local Food Internship at the Hardwick Area Food Pantry (HAFP)

Internship Overview:   

As an intern with the Hardwick Area Food Pantry, your work will strengthen the capacity and infrastructure of the organization while you work closely with HAFP staff, volunteers, participants, and other community partners.

Job Description:   

In collaboration with the HAFP’s Director, Outreach Coordinator, and the Site Coordinators, the Community Resilience & Local Food Intern will:

• Have a mix of remote work and in-person, on-site work
• Collaborate with a wide variety of players in the well-established local food scene
• Strengthen connections with other community partners and attend community events representing the HAFP.
• Document all new procedures to assure sustainability into the future.
• Intern will work with the Director to establish priorities relating to the Intern’s interests and skills from the bulleted list below:
  • Lead the expansion of the Grow Your Own classes into Craftsbury and Albany
  • Research and compile a Volunteer Handbook for the organization’s three sites
  • Research food prices at multiple outlets for comparison pricing
  • Prepare meals with food from the pantry for tasting during open hours
  • Help improve services to migrant farmworkers
  • Help to plan and coordinate a pickleball tournament fundraiser

The intern hired for this position will be part of a UVM-sponsored cohort of interns working with a range of organizations in the Northeast  Kingdom who are supporting Community Resilience.  The position includes free housing in a Sterling College residence, participation in a week-long community orientation along with 6-8 other UVM interns placed in partner organizations and weekly intern cohort workshops for professional development, networking, and reflection and a final sharing event on Wednesday, July 24 from 12-3pm.

Organization Profile:   

Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, where the HAFP is located, is a very rural area and has the highest rates of poverty in the state.  We see each month that the need continues to grow due to increasing costs of living, the end of pandemic-era benefits, and climate change impacts such as extreme flooding events.

The HAFP provides healthy food to anybody experiencing need, with few barriers to access them.  Our food can help households meet their food needs, but also to help balance the monthly budget and be able to pay other important expenses such as housing, utilities, and transportation.

Even as we work so hard as a community to build resilient and equitable food systems in the region, we are working within larger systems that do not necessarily prioritize resiliency and equity.  There will always be community members who experience moments of need, whether it’s due to a general lack of opportunity, acute or long-term health challenges, aging, loss of income, an increase in family size, or any of the myriad of factors that makes our neighbors vulnerable to food insecurities.  

Healthy and fresh food from the HAFP is a lifeline for our most vulnerable community members, and we strive to provide this food with the highest levels of respect and welcoming that we possibly can. Healthy food and a friendly face can make a world of difference to our neighbors, and to our communities. When our neighbors are supported and experiencing fewer challenges making ends meet in their day-to-day lives, the entire community benefits.

Poverty, and its results, including food insecurity, impact everyone, whether we’re directly experiencing it or not.  Poverty can often lead to social consequences such as crime and drug use.  Hunger can impact children in school and lead to behavioral problems, and long-term issues in a child’s education, while also disrupting the classroom dynamic and making it difficult for learning for the entire class.  

Only by working together as a community can we soften the blow of poverty on our families, and assist with this most basic of needs: healthy food.

Learning Objectives:  The intern at the Hardwick Area Food Pantry will:

•      Employ critical thinking and leadership skills

• Have the opportunity to work independently, while collaborating in feedback and implementation of projects

•      Gain experience in project and event management, public relations, and event logistics. 

•      Gather and analyze information from a diverse set of sources and individuals to fully understand a problem.

• Develop program development and coordination skills.

•      Demonstrate flexibility by adapting to diverse environments. 

•     Address systems of privilege that limit opportunities for members of historically marginalized communities.

Intern Qualifications:   

• This position may be most compatible with social science majors
• Empathy for low-income households
• An understanding, or a willingness to understand, the experiences and causes of poverty
• Computer/technology experience is necessary
• Organizational skills and the ability to work independently
• Self-driven / Self-motivated
• A desire to meet and work with people of various backgrounds
• This position will work best for someone with a vehicle and a valid license, as our work is in three different towns with no public transportation

Free Housing: Sterling College residence with 9 other interns       

Transportation options:  Would be helpful for the intern to have a car    

Application Procedure:  Students should apply on the Handshake platform

Questions? Contact Heather Davis, Director at the Hardwick Area Food Pantry at director@hardwickareafoodpantry.org