Thanks to support from No Kid Hungry, we continued our SummerMeals4NCKids student intern project in summer 2024. This project embeds college students as paid interns in child nutrition programs across the state. These interns worked on the Summer Nutrition Program, which provides healthy meals at no cost to kids via thousands of sites in North Carolina. Take a look at the stories and lessons they brought back from their experience.
Jaxon Evans
Second Harvest Food Bank Northwest NC (Forsyth County and beyond)
I interned with Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC. It is primarily located in Forsyth County in North Carolina, but caters to 18 surrounding counties, including Guilford, Iredell, Alamance, and Davidson County. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) operated by Second Harvest Food Bank NWNC had an astounding 28 sites serving meals to kids. Some sites were small, some sites were big, but every site and every kid were equally important to us, as the food these kids are receiving is a huge part of their summer. In total, over the summer months of June, July, and August, Second Harvest Food Bank provided just over 52,000 meals among our 28 sites!
My key responsibilities included scheduling and performing site visits, collecting and analyzing data from sites to identify trends and areas for improvement, and working in our Community Meals kitchen to prepare meals that would be going out to our sites. At the start of the summer, I was entirely unfamiliar with the areas that I would be working in. By the end of the summer, I had visited so many new places and gotten to know and understand the people who lived there. So many of the kids I saw this summer were beyond excited when it came time to get in line for their breakfasts or lunches. The kids especially loved the fun foods they didn’t typically see at home. It was always nice to see the kids try something new to them, such as cucumber and tomato summer salad, and find out they like it! One of their favorite foods was tater tots that were in the shape of Tetris pieces. Whenever these were served, the kids would have fun and build tiny tater tot houses!
My main motivation for pursuing this position was the strong draw I feel to help those who are in need. I knew I could help make a positive impact on the lives of many people in the community through this internship, and now that it has ended, I feel like I have done just that. I did so many things that I think helped our program run smoothly. After attending many SFSP training courses conducted by our Community Meals Manager, I led a training to certify staff at a few of our sites to provide extra hands on deck. I also had a great experience working one on one with a supervisor at one of our sites to brainstorm ways to increase the outreach of their program to draw more of the community in for meals next summer!
One new addition to the Second Harvest Food Bank NWNC’s program this year was rural non-congregate meal sites, also known as SUN Meals-To-Go, where families can pick up meals for their children and take them back home to eat throughout the week. This new meal site type proved to be very successful in its community. Our site was in Alexander County, at a church called The Bridge, which was in a quiet spot surrounded by fields and houses. Despite its remoteness, the site served up to 40 boxes, containing 5 meals each, during each service period. From my visits I could see the gratitude parents expressed. Rural non-congregate meal sites are great ways to distribute meals because they are convenient and allow families to pick up many meals all at once. Second Harvest Food Bank NWNC hopes to be able to work with even more rural non-congregate meal sites next summer!
This internship was an amazing opportunity. I am so grateful that I got to work with the awesome teams at No Kid Hungry North Carolina and Second Harvest Food Bank NWNC. I am even more grateful that I was able to help so many kids receive healthy meals during the summer, and make an impact in the counties that Second Harvest Food Bank NWNC serves. I learned so much throughout this experience. Day by day, I could tell I was gaining a better grasp on the need for summer nutrition programs. My understanding of the program grew right along with it. I would take every opportunity to do it all over again!
Jaxon Evans is completing his Bachelor of Science in Health and Nutrition at UNC-Greensboro.