When it Comes to Healthy Food...

This guy means business.

It just occurred to me today that, though he posted yesterday, we never introduced one of our newest staff members—Jeffrey Wankel! This blog has covered one of Jeffrey’s jobs before: launching a new initiative through which we will send volunteers out to the fields of local farms and distribute that fresh produce for free to low-income residents through our two food pantries.

His official title, and a brand new one for BFC, is Health Education & Farm Outreach Coordinator. He is currently working with Sharon (our Nutrition Consultant), Ted (our Food & Clothing Director), and me (Volunteer Coordinator) to build relationships with local farms and coordinate volunteer groups that will go pick fresh produce at the farms. Right now we’re lining up dates with farms, and then we’ll start recruiting volunteers to join us on the days the farmers give us permission to come.

And because no one at Bread for the City has only one job, he’s also in charge of our new peer education program (which we posted about yesterday). When wearing his Health Educator hat, Jeffrey works in the Medical Clinic to promote one health topic each month (like heart health, stress reduction, and overcoming situational depression associated with job loss). He meets with patients of the medical clinic who express an interest in taking health education information out into their communities and trains them to be Peer Educators that can coach their own group on healthy living.

Jeff comes to us by way of an Americorps partnership with the DCPCA. Other things about Jeff: he’s 22 years old; originally from Bloomer, Wisconsin; he likes to stay active with sports, especially basketball; his favorite style of food is Italian; he just moved to Eckington; and he’s excited about working here. Both of these programs have a lot of moving parts, so we’ll be posting updates on the progress of both on your favorite blog—Beyond Bread!