Interfaith Food Shuttle is looking for several interns.
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle:
Nutrition, Farms, and Gardens Program
Volunteer Internship
IFFS is very excited to share the Nutrition, Farms, and Gardens (NFG) Internship program. These internships are a valuable training experience for participants, an ideal way to get involved in your local community and work on growing a sustainable and accessible local food system. The experience should be valuable to participants by providing them with skills as well as a broader understanding of issues related to food insecurity in our community.
Available Internships:
Raleigh Urban Ag Program (3 positions) Contact Maurice@foodshuttle.org
Seeking three Urban Ag Interns that share passion for youth, soil, and food. The interns would help direct community food justice awareness programs. The basis of these programs is healthy community food access. The interns would help with urban soil creation and production: composting as a community is paramount. The interns will assist with creating soil in an urban environment from both a production and a policy viewpoint. The interns will help with research and advocacy based around urban, young adult job creation.
Farms (3 positions) Contact: Neal@FoodShuttle.org
Work with the Farm Manager to specialize in an area of operation, including livestock, vermi-composting, pest control, greenhouse production, and vegetable production at IFFS farms in Raleigh and Carrboro. This is a hands-on working position with project deliverables, such as instruction manuals, signage, and standard operating procedures.
Urban Composting Activists Contact: Sun sun@foodshuttle.org
If you are passionate about recycling, waste reduction and creating fertile soil mixes for urban farming, this is the internship for you! Compost Activists will help pick up compostables, solicit new accounts and receive OJT in static aerated pile, vermi-composting and other methods of generating finished compost products.
Young Farmer Training Program (2 positions) Contact Mitra@foodshuttle.org
Work with the YFTP Coordinator to support educational activities relating to farming, cooking/nutrition, and food justice. In addition to doing on-farm work, write/record and submit articles, video, audio, and other media. Streamline curricula by formatting existing lesson plans into template. Co-teach farming/food lessons for apprentices and/or for the public. Coordinate on-farm educational workshops and fundraising events. Help advertise and publicize YFTP.
Wake Community Gardens (1 position) Contact ElizabethN@foodshuttle.org
This internship is primarily focused on planning, planting, tending and harvesting food from the garden, with a focus on one particular community garden in Wake County. Comfort and ability to work alone and with community members when necessary is required. Spanish language proficiency a plus for Parrish Manor site.
Durham Community Garden (2 positions) Contact Abbey@foodshuttle.org
oLatino Community Development. This internship involves working with the Latino community at Immaculate Conception Church and residents of the neighborhood to offer gardening, nutrition and cooking education. Community building around the garden is an important part of this work.
o Garden Management. This internship involves all aspects of managing the garden, from planting to weeding to composting to harvest. Experience is helpful but enthusiasm is more important. Community building—working with community in the garden—will be an important part of this internship.
Nutrition Education Program (2 positions) Contact Katie@foodshuttle.org
Work with IFFS staff to plan and implement community nutrition education programs to low-income community members throughout the Triangle area. Interns will be involved in representing IFFS at community events, as well as planning and leading culinary-based nutrition education activities. For more-detailed descriptions of the intern positions, visit http://iffsvolunteer.wordpress.com/other-opportunities/internship/
Internship Logistics, and Details:
• New Interns will be accepted into the program 3 times/year: Feb, May, & September (based on availability);
• Interns must complete required training and orientation (see below)
• Interns must commit to a minimum of 8 hours/week for at least 12 weeks.
• Intern agreements will be signed and reassessed periodically.
• The Food Shuttle Volunteer Internships are unpaid positions.
Program Benefits:
• Hands-on experience, training, and mentorship from nutrition, farm and garden experts
• Certificate of internship completion
• Overview of non-profit hunger relief and local food system issues
• Opportunity to gain experience leading classes and programs
• Option to do longer, half-year or full-year program
• Flexible scheduling
Essential Requirements:
• Strong leadership capability
• Identify with the vision, mission, and values of IFFS
• Positive attitude and strong work ethic
• Ability and self-motivation to work unsupervised and with little structure
• Ability to work with and respect people of all ages and backgrounds
• Good organizational skills
• Able to arrive prepared and on time on regular schedule
Required Training:
• Review IFFS website & volunteer website (by start of internship)
• Tour IFFS (first week)
• Complete Intern Orientation (orientation will be offered on set dates TBD)
• Attend at least one NFG bi-monthly meeting (optional)
Food Shuttle Program Bios:
Food Shuttle Farms:
IFFS’s six-acre farms on Tryon Rd. in Raleigh and Jones Ferry Rd. near Carrboro produce fresh, local, nutritious food for distribution to community members in seven counties. Our crops, worm-ranch, and aquaponics projects provide vegetable transplants, organic vegetables, nutrients, and vermi-compost for community gardens and distribution.
Young Farmer Training Program: The IFFS Young Farmer Training Program is a paid multi-year farming apprenticeship for teenagers in Wake County. IFFS hosts apprentices three days per week in sessions each spring, summer and fall. Apprentices grow vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, and flowers on our six-acre Raleigh farm, design and implement profitable farm plans, market their produce while keeping good records, teach the community about farming and gardening, cook healthy meals, and advocate for a better food system.
Durham Community Garden:
The Inter-Faith Food Shuttle is gardening at 707 Kent Street in partnership with community organizations and neighbors. The garden’s mission is to provide greater access to fresh, wholesome food to those in need as well as teach skills in growing food and cooking nutritiously.
Wake County Community Gardens:
IFFS partners with two underserved communities in Wake County to grow community gardens and promote healthy lifestyles. We are improving community health and nutrition by educating and empowering youth and adults on how to grow their own food and prepare healthy meals. Community gardens are established in diverse neighborhoods at Alliance Medical Ministry and Parrish Manor.
Nutrition Programs:
Nutrition programming at IFFS, including Cooking Matters and Food Matters, is based on educating and empowering participants to select and prepare nutritious and low-cost ingredients that provide the best nourishment possible for them, their families, and their community. IFFS partners with community organizations to run Cooking Matters, a six-week culinary-based nutrition program, developed by Share Our Strength (SOS), with low-income kids, teens, adults, and families. IFFS also provides cooking demonstrations and nutrition lessons at several IFFS mobile market food distribution sites. As the lead partner for Share Our Strength, IFFS is responsible for spreading SOS programs to satellite partners, and supporting them as they implement Cooking Matters and Shopping Matters across the state. When possible, nutrition programs work to highlight seasonal and locally-grown food.
Raleigh Urban Ag Programs:
The base of these programs is healthy community food access. Food access is one of the most critical pieces of our economy's budget right now and the issue of food justice/food policy needs to be at the table (no pun), each time budget numbers are brought up. Community food awareness not only affects the people in direct need of healthy food, but rather it affects the economic, educational, and physical growth of urban and rural environments. Soil creation and production are a critical component. We can never create enough healthy soil. Never! So composting as a community is paramount. Everyone is involved: schools, hospitals, restaurants, churches, the city hall, and libraries. Job creation for youth is also a critical piece of the program. When youth have a way to make/create their own money systems, they remember it for life and they are more inclined to remain entrepreneurs longer and create jobs for others later.
How to apply:
Thank you for your interest in joining the Food Shuttle team! Email the contact person listed above and we’ll send you a Volunteer Internship Application. There will be additional paperwork to complete prior to starting an IFFS Volunteer Internship. IFFS looks forward to hearing from you! For general information, contact ElizabethN@foodshuttle.org.
