Johnelle Weekley: Man vs Food
I always told myself that I would never work in a kitchen. I have never had a good relationship with food. Nutrition remains a subject that I constantly struggle with on exams in nursing school and I am intimidated by most kitchens due to my clumsiness. Unable to find an externship in an area I had hoped for, I was forced to broaden my options to find summer work. Reluctantly, I agreed to position in a school cafeteria that would transition into working a summer feeding program.
When I first started, it was hard. I felt as if I was thrown in the deep end and had to figure most things out on my own. I was unfamiliar with the workings of a kitchen and how foods needed to be prepped. Although they started me on salad bar--which is supposedly the easiest—I didn’t know how different items were expected to be cut. When I would ask others of how it needed to be done, they would tell me to “just cut it”. Then later another worker would get angry because I had not done it correctly and the sizing was all off. This was a constant source of discouragement I faced in this kitchen.
This all changed when I transitioned into another kitchen to work the summer feeding program. My new manager was used to working with people that were new to a kitchen. She would always make sure we were okay and would explain any new procedure in detail. There was never a question of what was expected. It was while working in this kitchen that I was able to grow my skills more and have the time to recognize the impact that the program was having.
The summer feeding program that I was working provided free meal pickup to anyone in the community that appeared to be eighteen or younger. All they had to do was show up during pickup and we would provide them with two hot meals for lunch, and enough shelf-stable or frozen meals to last them until the next meal pickup. This would include fruits and vegetables as well. In addition, anyone was also able to request extras of any of the food we provided if they desired.
I did not realize the impact that the summer feeding program had on the community until I actually worked it. I had heard all about it the previous summer when it was expanded so that more people could be reached during lockdown. During my training they discussed how many sites were having to be opened due to the sheer number of people showing up to receive meals for the week. Some sites, such as the one I was going to work, were even going to deliver meals to outside sites as well. Despite hearing and reading all about the program, I remained oblivious to its true impact.
The site I was working was in the most affluent area out of all the sites. The people there are typically of high income and usually do not even qualify for the summer feeding program under normal circumstances. With this in mind, I did not expect the turnout to be what it was. The first day of meal pickup shocked me. There was a line of cars that wrapped around the building at one point. We gave out meals for at least one-hundred and twenty-five people the first day.
I can remember one family specifically that helped increase my empathy. Each week this mom would drive her white van up to the meal pickup site with eight kids piled in it. I could see them all as I placed food onto the floorboards and could see how excited they were each week for the hot meal that would be included. As the weeks went on and the mother got to know us, she became more comfortable to accept extras when we had them available. I got to witness firsthand this family’s thankfulness and the impact that this program was having on them. Even more so I realized that the community had a much larger need than I had ever anticipated. When I think of groups with food insecurity in the community, I typically think about the homeless, not whole families with children attending school—schools that I had attended.
Prior to my experience I was not aware of the high amount of need in the community and how much food insecurity there is. I did not know about the need for workers in the school’s food service industry either. Seeing the need and being able to help it, increased my understanding of the community. I was able to look outside myself and my experience and see the community as a whole.
Although the community was affluent, not everyone that lives there is. I now recognize the importance of understanding this when forming opinions about areas. There are still many in these areas that are in need of help and that face food insecurity in their daily lives. This is something that can’t be helped as efficiently when people are ignorant to their situation and quick to form opinions about the community as a whole. Issues such as these can go unseen and often hide. It can take a lot for people to ask for help, I witnessed this throughout the summer during meal pickup. As the summer continued, we would have more people show up for food and more people that would request for extras. My experience this summer has encouraged me to be more aware of the health of the community around and to do what I can to help alleviate the struggles of those within it.
Johnelle Weekley is a senior nursing major graduating in May of 2022. She spent the summer of 2021 working for a summer feeding program that served several counties in the midlands of South Carolina. After graduation, she plans on working as a registered nurse.