Community Partnership with Blacksburg Farmers Market
Blacksburg, VA
August 2014 - January 2015
I volunteered at the Blacksburg Farmers Market as part of my Service Learning Project. Over the course of six months, I devoted over fifty hours working for the different community outreach projects. I spent most of my time managing the EBT/Credit Card token exchange stand and promoting the SNAP Double Value program. This is a program where SNAP recipients receive double value tokens when they swipe their EBT cards. During my time at the stand, I approached market customers and had them fill out satisfaction surveys for the market. Additionally, I conducted several cooking demonstrations at a local food pantry to teach simple healthy cooking to low-income families.
One of the major projects that I was involved with was setting up the Market Kids garden, which is a project that provides children (ages 6 – 12) with the unique experience of learning what it takes to grow food from seeds, making sales from produce, and developing a market business. I truly enjoyed my experience building connections in the community and networking with professionals who work with the market. I have learned valuable skills such as resource development, community outreach, nutrition education, and more. I hope to take what I learned from this experience to make an impact on a larger scale in the future.
One of the major projects that I was involved with was setting up the Market Kids garden, which is a project that provides children (ages 6 – 12) with the unique experience of learning what it takes to grow food from seeds, making sales from produce, and developing a market business. I truly enjoyed my experience building connections in the community and networking with professionals who work with the market. I have learned valuable skills such as resource development, community outreach, nutrition education, and more. I hope to take what I learned from this experience to make an impact on a larger scale in the future.