The Campus Kitchens Project is an emerging leader in community service for students and resourceful anti-hunger programs for communities around the country. The Campus Kitchen at UMass Boston (CKUMB) is the first of its kind in multiple ways. They are the first Campus Kitchen in Massachusetts as well as the first Campus Kitchen to combine college and high school students! CKUMB uses VolunteerSpot's online signup sheets to schedule volunteers to work in their kitchen.
Today, our VolunteerSpotlight shines on Chelsea Goulart, CKUMB coordinator.
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Please tell us about your organization and your volunteer needs.
After volunteers are trained in proper food safety and sanitation, they develop menus, work in the kitchen, deliver meals, and learn socially-responsible leadership skills. We currently prepare and deliver approximately 137 meals a week. These meals are accompanied by nutrition education and a focus on healthy eating with fresh vegetables from our on-site community garden at the East Zone Early Learning Center in Dorchester.
Which segment of the community do you serve?
CKUMB currently serves more than 60 low income families in this community. Our model is based on a few key resources available in any community: donated food from partners, shared kitchen space, and students who want to make a difference. In addition, these student leaders build communities by providing empowerment education programs such as nutrition education to children, healthy cooking on a budget to families, and culinary job training for unemployed or underemployed adults.
Since inception, The Campus Kitchens Project has recovered more than 1,650,000 pounds of food, served more than 1,298,000 meals, clocked more than 290,000 volunteer hours, worked with more than 400 partner agencies, and trained more than 167 adults for employment in the culinary field. Volunteers run the show – we couldn’t operate without the wonderful students of Umass Boston, BC High, and Archbishop Williams. This is a student-run organization, so recruiting and retaining volunteers is one of our primary tasks.
What is your role as a volunteer leader?
I am the Coordinator for the Campus Kitchen at the University of Massachusetts Boston and am staffed through The Campus Kitchens Project. Managing volunteers has become one of the largest aspects of my day-to-day position.
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
VolunteerSpot has streamlined how we reach new and returning volunteers. With your help, I can provide an at-a-glance monthly calendar for shifts we have available and what we’re currently doing. I can click once or twice and know who will be at a shift and where I need to pick up recruitment efforts. It’s lessened the time I spend on administrative tasks; now I’m able to feed more clients with this extra time.
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To learn more about CKUMB, visit http://campuskitchens.org/schools/umb/
We salute Chelsea and all the other volunteer coordinators out there. If you're using VolunteerSpot, write and tell us about what you're doing and give us a chance to shine our Volunteer Spotlight on you!! Just email us at [email protected]