Make a plan and work it

“As a longtime volunteer at soup kitchens and food banks, Melissa wanted to design a cookbook to address the needs of pantry patrons: to cook simple recipes using ingredients available at the food bank. Her cookbook features 332 recipes submitted and tested by community members who contributed over 350 volunteer hours. Melissa volunteered close to 100 hours and has donated the cookbook to the pantry.”

Many of you have asked what a great Gold Award Project could look like, and this is one!  And here’s how I’m guessing she went about putting it all together using the Toolkit:

1. Choose an Issue:  Melissa saw a need at the local food pantry where she volunteered.  Patrons didn’t know how to use all the donated ingredients to make healthy meals.

2. Investigate:  I’ll bet she interviewed the Director of the pantry as well as some board members and volunteers to see what the need was.  She used her community mapping tools to see that feeding the hungry crosses many lines in her community.  I hope she also did some research to find out if another pantry already had a cookbook, or if they could use one.

3.  Get help:  Melissa used her leadership to gather a team to work on this project.  She got the greater community involved by asking for their recipe input.  I’m hoping she developed (with the help of pantry staff) some parameters for what the recipes should include.  I also hope she located a dietician or nutritionist to help her pick out healthy choices for the clients.

4.  Create a Plan:  She put together the plan, worked collaboratively with the pantry as well as the other volunteers. And she led the charge to collect and test all the recipe.s

5.  Melissa submitted her proposal and was given the green light to start.

6.  Take action:  She did!  She worked her plan, used resources wisely, spoke out to others about the pantry and its needs, and garnered community support. 

7.  Educate and inspire:  Melissa helped to educate the public as well as the community she was serving at the pantry. She engaged others to help, and she completed her project by giving the pantry the final product:  a cookbook that could be used for years to come, not only at that one pantry, but potentially at many.  Great sustainability! 

This article was posted on the GSUSA blog in June