Inter-Faith Food Shuttle – Field Gleaning Internship – NC

Proposal for Student Practicum
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Field Gleaning program is in need of an intern/practicum student to conduct research regarding best practices, develop protocols, supervise events, and develop training materials.

Inter-Faith Food Shuttle pioneers innovative, transformative solutions designed to end hunger in our community. The Field Gleaning program works with local farmers and volunteers to salvage unmarketable or excess vegetable crops for hunger relief.

Research
The student will research Good Agricultural Practices [GAP] and food safety practices used by similar programs across the US. This may include developing and administering a survey via interviews with program coordinators or via an online tool such as Google Forms. The student will additionally research food safety risks posed in field gleaning, and also assess the feasibility of different practices found in GAP recommendations.   With IFFS funds, the student will procure or build any needed materials to ensure adequate food safety in the field. This could include building a mobile hand washing station.

Field Gleaning Supervision
Through field experience, the student will discover the practical limitations of field gleaning, as well as select and adapt various practices that meet the specific limitations of the gleaning situation, while maximizing food safety.  The student will be trained to supervise Field Gleaning events, and will supervise a minimum of 9 field gleaning events. Once developed, the student will utilize the new protocols and safety practices. Additionally, the student will gain experience recruiting, training and supervising volunteers.

Protocol
The research and field gleaning supervision will come together to provide an opportunity for the student to work through the entire protocol process from development through editing and finalizing procedure and best practices.  Protocols will include production of a set of food safety best practices specific to the field gleaning context.

Volunteer Training
The final component of the project will involve generating appropriate training materials for future field gleaning supervisors which may include a powerpoint presentation with script, training movie, an online quiz, and elevator pitch.  Volunteer recruitment materials should be generated as well as an excel spreadsheet to track volunteers, and an iContact e-newsletter template to be sent bi-weekly, advertising upcoming field gleanings.

Contact
Lindsay Perry, Local Produce Coordinator
Lindsay@foodshuttle.org