Hello Fellow Student Leaders!
Here are the highlights for the week!
Opportunities in other departments:
- Community resource center is transforming into a produce grocery store (food for change market). The Grand Opening was this past Monday. They are looking for regular volunteers to come for the afternoon and Saturday shirts to run the grocery store. 3-6pm for Students during the week and Saturday hours are negoitble.
- Kitchen is looking for help during spring break. Shifts start as early as 6am. Must be 16 or older.
- Clerical volunteer opportunities in Volunteer Services: Help needed for organizing paperwork in VS and throwing away old documents. Could be done virtually or Saturday or Sunday during any shift.
- Teachers Aid is looking for Saturday volunteers. They have recently renovated the building and have a large distribution that happens weekly for teachers. This opportunity is one street away from Portwall.
- Virtual hours for students who can help with some graphic design and databases are being offered. If interested, join the GroupMe!
Program changes in the Houston Food Bank:
These changes were made to ensure your safety and that someone on staff at the Food Bank will have a record of your attendance. This also helps with building relationships with staff members for more detailed letters of recommendation.
- You must register for the shift before attending. Some of you are still not completing this step. As of March 2nd, 2024, if you do not register before attending you will not be permitted to stay for the shift. Click here for instructions on how to register for a shift! You must also clock out in between each shift if you are staying all day on a Saturday.
- You must sign in and out on both the computer in volunteer services and the clipboard in the dedicated volunteer hub. Failure to do so will require denial of your hours.
- Upon arrival, you will need to wait in the dedicated volunteer hub to be assigned to a project by a supervisor. If you skip the hub and go straight into the project area you will receive a strike. 3 strikes and you are out of the program.
- ACLs are signing up to be your mentors! You will start to see them during shifts with a SH shirt and a food bank badge.
- We had the Student Hero March Leadership Meeting on the first Saturday of March at 1 pm. We had a presentation on Food Insecurity, and we announced 2 new board positions that Student Heroes can apply for. Applications go out March 9th!
- If you are interested in a college/career coaching session, please use this link to get on Christine's calendar.
PROGRAM OF THE MONTH: KIDS CAFE:
Kids Cafe provides fresh, healthy meals and snacks for children up to 18 years old. Meals are cooked in our on-site Keegan Kitchen year-round on weekdays and distributed through our partnerships with after school, child care and summer meal sites.
Some stats on the work done at Kids Cafe and the children who benefit from it:
- 1 in 5 children in SE Texas is food insecure.
- Children facing hunger may struggle, as they are more likely to repeat a grade or have issues in school, experience development impairments in areas like language and motor skills, and have more social and behavioral problems.
- 815,000 meals and 235,628 snacks have been served through Kids Cafe in FY '23.
- In the 18 countries served by the HFB, these meals and snacks were supplied to kids at 1,496 sites in the 2023 fiscal year.
Houston Food Bank prepares nutritious meals daily, they deliver the meals, kept fresh in cambros, they unload the meal and staff pass the meals out, leading to happy, well-nourished, energetic kids!
If you are interested in learning more about Kids Cafe, visit Christine Mompoint's desk where you could pick up a leaflet!
About the new Program Manager
Name: Christine Mompoint
Professional Title: Volunteer Liaison
Email: cmompoint@houstonfoodbank.org
Length of Employment at the Food Bank: 6 Months - I used to be a Rep on the Production Floor!
Favorite Project: Senior Box - First project I ever led and have a lot of fun with the assembly line
Why I work here: I am a social work student at UHD and as a part of a summer class I took in 2023, I had to volunteer for an organization and write a 10-page paper about the service they provide to the community. I was so impressed with the Food Bank and its goal to help people beyond access to food that I applied to work here. I am passionate about seeing others succeed and helping educate people on economic prosperity. The Food Bank has a mission to see a world that doesn't need food banks and I think this is a very special mission.
My role: I oversee the dedicated adult volunteers (Apple Corps Leaders Program) and the Student Heroes program. This position requires me to provide support to our departments while giving our volunteers meaningful experiences that resonate with their unique interests.
My mission: I have a mission to develop the strongest student leaders in the City of Houston. I am working on a plan to develop new crews that give students interesting opportunities that are central to completing the food bank's mission and broadening their skills as leaders. It is important to me to help each student develop a specialized track that focuses on individual strengths and weaknesses to maximize their leadership potential. I look forward to working with all Student Heroes!
Interesting Hobby: I also work for a community theater called Art Factory where I run the marketing department, the bar, and sometimes perform as an actress. I have been trained to sing classical, pop, and Broadway music since I was a child.
Cool Fact about me: I LOVE politics and was instrumental in the passage of HB1027, a bill to require higher education institutions to publish textbook prices before students enroll in their courses so they can make better economic decisions for themselves. My testimony is 1:00 into the video! I dream that the Student Hero cohort of Spring 2025 will travel with me to Austin to testify at the capital.
Thank you for reading!
Ishaan Agarwal
