Volunteering at UMD Food Pantry

Presenter: Keansha Bowman, Public Health Science, Global Public Health Scholars

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For my practicum I volunteered at University of Maryland Campus Pantry. At the campus pantry I assisted with daily operations of Green Dining projects including the UMD Campus Pantry, Terp Farm, and Farmers Market at Maryland. I helped the staff with a lot of task whether it was stocking, processing the food, etc. At the pantry they have a system where they stock every hour so that they ration the food that is donated to them so that way everyone has a opportunity to get what they want and everything isn't gone by the end of the day. So every hour I would just make sure to help restock the shelves so that students and staff could get more items. When It came to cleaning I just helped with making sure the environment was clean for staff and students so that they have a nice environment to chill and relax while in between classes if they had no where to go. When helping process the fruits, foods and vegetables I helped make sure the items wasn't bad and was safe for people to grab. If any items were bad we would throw them away into the compost bin and break down the boxes so that they can go into the recycling. While volunteering I had learned more about food insecurity and how a lot more pantries should be created. This led me to make that public health connection. This practicum allowed me make the public health connection to Sustainable development Goal 3: Good Health and Well being. This is a world wide goal that promotes healthy lifestyles, preventive measures and efficient/efficient healthcare for everyone no matter their status.