What are the responsibilities and job description for the Agriculture Team Support Intern position at Thurston County Food Bank?
SUMMARY:
This unpaid position will work closely with and support all aspects of the Agriculture Team (Kiwanis and Lydia Hawk gardens, gleaning, nutrition, and the Farm Stand) . These interns will play a key role in supporting staff and volunteers in hunger relief by increasing food access, quality and quantity.
Under supervision, and appropriate training they will see produce from soil to education to distribution to clients.
Orientation, training, and tour of buildings and gardens to support understanding of our organization's programs, culture, values, and ethics.
Site-specific training at buildings & gardens to understand all aspects of procurement processes including equipment training, safety protocols, communication, and understanding of roles of staff.
If one is not already set up, the Food Bank would love to work with your school to create an internship/work study opportunity in partnership to support our community.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Nutrition: assist with surveys, prep, and display of fresh produce at our downtown and Lacey food pantries.
- Kiwanis garden: assist with farm plan, equipment maintenance, propagation, soil prep, field seeding, planting, harvesting, cover cropping, field maintenance, produce delivery, and data entry.
- School garden: assist with classroom events, planting, and making fresh produce fun and accessible to students.
- Farm stand: quality control, restocking, sorting, shelving, consolidation, returning to building shelves. Client intake. (March to November - can include Saturday work)
- Gleaning: coordinate, promote, pickup/drop-off of gleaning crops, data entry into Farm-2-Food-Pantry database.
- Observe and improve produce storage and distribution between farm and food bank to optimize freshness.
- Train, assist, and manage volunteers.
- Create materials such as newsletters, recipes, social media, and flyers.
SKILLS:
- Ability to lift 50 lbs throughout the day using team or tool support when needed.
- Ability to stand for 5 to 7 hours per day.
- Ability to work outdoors in inclement weather.
