East Coast Volunteering
Feeding South Florida Experience
Welcome to my blog!
My name is Isaac Tassara and I am a student at Florida International University. One of my assignments for Professional and Technical Writing was to promote a non-profit organization. I chose to volunteer and speak on my experience for Feeding South Florida.
Feeding South Florida is the leading hunger-relief organization in South Florida. I wanted to work for a different cause because my volunteering experience mainly consists of environmental cleanups for my community. I’ve previously heard of others’ experiences with Feeding South Florida and felt inclined to volunteer as I learned more about this non-profit. I learned more on how food banks work and the importance of bringing awareness to the struggle against hunger and poverty.
The Feeding South Florida website made it easy to sign up for a volunteer opportunity. You can register online for a date, time, and role that you would like to be assigned for in one of their locations. I chose the food sorting shift at my nearest warehouse.
( Inside the Feeding South Florida warehouse (03/30/2021) )
( Selfie at the warehouse (03/30/2021) )
I was a bit nervous before stepping inside because I’ve been hesitant on exploring new places since the beginning of the pandemic. It was also my first time volunteering at a warehouse, and I’m admittedly a little shy when it comes to interacting with new people. However, I had a great experience. Ms. Bonet, our volunteer coordinator, was very friendly and provided more information on what Feeding South Florida does to alleviate hunger and combat food insecurities for our local communities. She also explained the different responsibilities that we could carry out during our sorting shift. We had the option to inspect and verify that the food items were undamaged and safe to consume, sort the packages into their assigned food categories, select a certain amount of the items and arrange them into care packages, or help seal and move the boxes so that they can be sent to the distributors. I decided to help sort the food items that were already inspected into their food categories.
I used to work at various places in the food service industry, and I felt my former restaurant worker instincts kick in as I was moving food and packages around. Everyone in my group was kind and helpful to one another. There was music playing for us in the background, so I had the opportunity to secretly jam out to songs I listened to back in my high school days. Most importantly, I felt safe because we were responsibly wearing masks and maintaining a safe distance from one another.
( One of these images shows the conveyor belt that brings the food and clicking on the image reveals another showing the care packages that are ready to be distributed (03/30/2021) )
( Helpful volunteer I met (03/30/2021) )
My visit was a rewarding experience and I felt happy. Volunteering can bring many benefits into your life, and “doing volunteer work you find meaningful and interesting can be a relaxing, energizing escape from your day-to-day routine of work, school, or family commitments” (Robinson & Segal, 2020). I was able to build upon skills I already had and use them to benefit a greater community. I’m also positive that it would have been a great way to socialize with new people if it wasn’t for the pandemic. My recommendation to peers who do not have an ample amount of volunteering experience is to give Feeding South Florida a try. Feeding South Florida’s mission is to end local hunger by providing access to nutritious food to those in need and advocate for food insecurity. They provide more than 119 million pounds of food, feed about 700,000 people every year, and serve to nearly a quarter of the state’s food insecure population. Feeding South Florida also partners with nearly 500 retail stores like Publix and have connections with other national food donor associations. I believe they do an excellent job at feeding families in need of assistance.
Robinson, L. & Segal, J. (2020, October 1). Volunteering and its Surprising Benefits. HelpGuide.
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/volunteering-and-its-surprising-benefits.htm
Craig Gundersen's Take on Food Insecurity
Food insecurity is a prominent public health concern in the United States, and it’s important to bring awareness to the issue. I want to share “Food Insecurity Is an Ongoing National Concern” (https://doi.org/10.3945/an.112.003244), an excerpt written by Craig Gundersen that was included in the publication of Advances in Nutrition. Mr. Gunderson defines what it means to suffer from food insecurity, speaks on the current extent and factors of food insecurity, and informs the reader about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). When a household suffers from food insecurity, some or all household members are unable to acquire enough food or household members are hungry for some time during the year. About 14.5% of Americans were food insecure in 2010 and the percentage has been increasing since 2007. Factors of food insecurity have been associated with socioeconomic status and demographics like race and education levels as well.
The ethos of the excerpt is strong because the author is a distinguished professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois. Mr. Gundersen is also the lead researcher on Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap project and is a Research Fellow at the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty. There are also more examples of logos than pathos in the article. You can see Mr. Gunderson’s viewpoint on the issue and how he believes food insecurity is a serious problem. However, facts and reasoning are used to convince the audience of the argument instead of attaining an emotional response from the reader. The article uses technical language and the target audience consists of students or scientists researching more information on public health and nutrition.
I was surprised to see the statistics showing how many people in United States suffer from food insecurity and that millions more children are experiencing it as well. It was also worrying to discover that demographic factors are associated with food insecurity. African Americans, Hispanics, and those who have never married suffered the most than their respective counterparts. Furthermore, I wasn’t aware of how impactful the SNAP is and think it’s great how its effectiveness has led to reductions in food insecurity. I want to continue the conversation with the author by talking more about meeting food demands and food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic. I would assume that people in marginalized communities were struggling even more and families were having a hard time feeding their children when they don’t have access to school lunches.
@beauty2thestreetz
I also want to share this interview of Shirley Raines. I know of Ms. Raines because of her TikToks. She's known for giving food to the homeless and helping them do their hair and makeup. Ms. Raines helps give others a sense of self-worth and is extremely kind to those in need. She inspires me to be selfless and fight for worthwhile causes. The video explains who she is and how you can help her help the homeless community.