My name is Stevie Barner, and I am completing my master’s in nutrition and dietetic internship through the University of Texas Medical Branch. The Galveston County Food Bank was my last rotation as a dietetic intern! It has been a hard journey, but I am very grateful that my last rotation was at GCFB so that I can finish out these experiences on a great memory. I was here for a 4-week rotation where I was exposed to many different community outreach opportunities as part of the nutrition department.

In my first week, I participated in a family nutrition education class for parents at Texas City High School. I worked closely with Stephanie Bell, the nutrition educator at GCFB, to learn how to put together a food demo for these classes. I loved how fun and entertaining these classes are. Throughout the class, there were different activities and even a taste test experience to keep participants involved and thinking.

At the end of my first week, I took part in the Halloween event that GCFB puts on each year. I worked with the nutrition department at their booth to provide a build-your-own popcorn bag. We also provided information about nutrition education classes and recipe cards. I even went through the haunted warehouse GCFB creates which was pretty scary!

During my second week, I got to experience what the Health Corner Store Project involves. I love this project, and in the future, I would want to implement a program like this in my community. The two corner stores I visited were amazing! It really felt like a mini grocery store. There was fresh produce, multiple meat options from chicken to beef, eggs, dairy products, and a large selection of dry and canned goods. While we were visiting, we added nutrition education related signage and planned what to bring back next time. Every time Stephanie is looking for new items to implement while engaging with the owners and their customers. I enjoyed the focus on building relationships and becoming a larger part of the surrounding communities. This picture of cilantro is my favorite one I took at the corner store.

In my third week, I had the opportunity to film a recipe video for the cherry chocolate chip cookie recipe I had helped create. I had no previous experience creating videos, so this was a great learning experience. I enjoyed editing the video, and through this experience, I gained a lot of knowledge about how I could possibly make my own recipe videos in the future.

During my fourth and final week, I created some educational social media posts. These can be related to nutrition education or health overall. The idea is to provide straightforward education to get people to think about their health. It could inspire them to make healthier food choices or try something new. Most of the posts are centered around the food of the day to provide some fun facts and health information about that food. For example, one post I created was for maple syrup day. This has been a great project for letting myself be creative.

My time at the Galveston County Food Bank was unforgettable. Candice Alfaro, the nutrition director, and Stephanie Bell, the nutrition educator, create a welcoming and friendly environment. My rotation started right as Maddi, the new nutrition educator, began working in this department. It was so much fun getting to grow together. I wish nothing but the best for this department and everyone who puts in so much work to serve the community here.

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The Galveston County Food Bank was my very first rotation in my Dietetics program at UTMB. I was very nervous, but nutrition director Candice Alfaro and nutrition educator Stephanie Bell have been incredibly welcoming and kind since my first day. I am honestly stunned at how great this rotation has been. The nutrition department office has become my safe haven over the past month.

In my first week, I was thrown right into nutrition education classes for the Texas City High School students. I participated every week for the entire duration of my rotation. Before this, I had only public speaking experience in a few class assignments. However, I was able to complete a food demonstration on my second day! Stephanie has been a great mentor through each class and always inspires me to improve. Through each class, I felt my confidence grow and blossom.

In my second week, I had the opportunity to make 150 meal kit boxes for the public. Each kit contained the ingredients to make two healthy meals and a folder filled with helpful nutrition information and recipes. Stephanie, Candice, and I handed out all of the boxes to the community first-hand, so I got to see who benefited from them with my own eyes. It was a truly fantastic experience! I enjoyed every aspect of it, even down to meticulously hand-packing each box.

I learned more about the Healthy Corner Store project during my third week. At first, I thought there was no way a corner store would agree to add healthier options. However, when Stephanie and I went to Kwik Stop in La Marque, a store they have been working with, my mind was blown. Multiple healthy changes had been made to the store, including adding produce, whole grains, dairy, signage, and more. I also met the store owner and witnessed how enthusiastic he was about making changes. It was remarkable to see how much of an influence the nutrition department truly has in the community.

During my last week, I had the pleasure of making a recipe card and food demonstration video to upload on YouTube. I have always been interested in recipe development and videography, so I jumped at the chance to learn the entire process. I am thrilled to be forever a part of the nutrition department’s recipe library. I plan to use my new skills to create my own recipes someday.

My time here has been truly unforgettable, and I am so grateful for every opportunity I was given. I have learned many skills that I will take with me throughout my career. I genuinely thank Stephanie and Candice for making my time both enjoyable and productive. I don’t want to say goodbye!

Until next time,

Cheyanne Schiff

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Since I began studying nutrition, I’ve been passionate about working to improve public health through equitable distribution of health resources and increased access to safe, nutritious foods. Throughout my rotation with GCFB, I’ve gotten to learn about and take part in the Nutrition Department’s outreach projects including the Healthy Corner Store Project, nutrition education classes at Texas City High School, and partnerships with Galveston’s Own Farmers Market and The Picnic Basket Student Food Pantry at UTMB.

During my first week, I was able to visit two stores partnered with GCFB for the Healthy Corner Store Project. Through this project, GCFB provides participating stores with marketing materials to advertise acceptance of SNAP benefits and to promote nutritious food options within the stores. Stephanie, one of the Nutrition Educators, and I visited these stores to touch base with the store owners and monitor the quality of marketing materials currently displayed.

In my second week, most of my time was spent measuring and packaging seasonings to be included in the Nutrition Department’s meal kits that will be distributed to the community. These kits will include handouts for diabetes education and prevention as well as nutritious recipe cards and the corresponding ingredients.

I was able to observe and assist
nutrition education classes in my third and fourth weeks. These were the first two sessions in the Cooking Matters course for high schoolers at Texas City High School. This course is aimed at getting students excited about nutrition by teaching them about MyPlate recommendations and introducing them to new foods. Each class involves a both a lecture and a cooking demonstration. I had the opportunity to be involved with both sides, assisting in the planning and execution of lectures and leading one of the cooking demonstrations.

I’ve loved my experience with GCFB. Getting to interact with members of the community, decorate recipe boards, and design educational handouts/social media posts has been both fun and fulfilling. Every staff member’s passion for providing Galveston County with nutritious foods and health education is evident in how hard they work and the success of their outreach programs. I’m so grateful for my time here, I will never forget this experience!

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I was born and raised in Austin, Texas and grew up with my sister, 2 cats and a dog. I went to college in New York before making my way back to sunny Texas for medical school. Through the MD/MPH dual-degree program, I have been able to focus on understanding medically underserved populations in Galveston County. I’ve done a lot of work at the St. Vincent’s Student Clinic and volunteered with GCFB in a few different roles.

Over the past few months, I have been helping out on a project putting together meal kits for GCFB clients with and at risk for diabetes through a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas (BCBS) titled “GCFB Fights Chronic Health Conditions: Diabetes with Nutrition Education and Rx Meal Kits”. I was interested in helping with this project because it focused on using nutrition to improve people’s health, which brings together my passion for healthcare and public health.

For the BCBS project, I helped create diabetes information materials, recipes, and put together the meal kit boxes that we are distributing. For each meal kit, we wanted to provide information about diabetes and how to manage and treat diabetes with balanced meals. We also wanted to provide nutritional information with each recipe that we developed. It is important for clients with or at risk of developing diabetes to understand how food plays a role in their health, and the recipes and information sheets I created were meant to increase awareness of this fact. We developed four recipes to provide as meal kits to people in Galveston County. I helped pack up the meal kits and assisted with creating recipe video content for people to follow along as they are making their meal kit recipe. 

I was also involved with two classes that the Nutrition Department taught this Fall – one at the Texas City High School and one at the Nesler Senior Center in Texas City. At the Texas City High School, I helped the nutrition educators teach high school students about healthy eating practices and assisted with food demonstrations for the students. At the Nesler Senior Center, I edited content for a class teaching about “Reducing Added Sugars” and led a food demonstration and lecture to the senior class. At the Nesler Senior Center class, we also distributed meal kits to the participants and solicited feedback from them regarding their experience with the meal kit and information sheets. They overwhelmingly liked the meal they made and felt like the information we provided them would help them continue to make healthy food decisions.

Finally, I created surveys to objectively analyze the effectiveness of the BCBS project. Over the next year while the project is being rolled out, participants in the meal kit program and those who receive educational materials will be able to fill out the survey to provide feedback to the Nutrition Department and inform future grant projects. 

While interning with the Nutrition Department, I also had the occasional opportunity to help staff the GCFB pantry. It was fun to get to know pantry staff and work with them to provide groceries to sometimes more than 300 people in one day! I also got to see a Corner Store project in San Leon. This was a completely new experience for me, and it was cool to see fresh produce provided to Galveston County residents in a convenience store. One day in November, the Nutrition Department spent the morning at Seeding Galveston, learning about urban farming and sustainability. I live on Galveston Island and had never heard of this project before, so I was excited to learn more about the different ways people are working to fight food insecurity in my own city. We also were able to participate in the first annual Internal Festival at the Children’s Museum in Galveston, where we educated families on the importance of washing produce and shared a healthy winter soup recipe with them. 

Interning at GCFB has been an amazing experience. I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing staff members who are dedicated to educating Galveston County residents and fighting food insecurity in their community. I enjoyed learning how a food bank runs and all the work that goes into each project and each educational class. I know that what I have learned here over the past few months will help me be a better physician in the future, and I am so grateful to the Nutrition Department for this opportunity.

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In my first week at GCFB, I learned about the wide variety of curriculums, such as MyPlate for My Family and Cooking Matters, that are used for nutrition education classes. Additionally, I learned about programs like Healthy Eating Research (HER), Farmer’s Market, and Healthy Corner Store that are utilized at the food bank. I was actually able to visit the corner store in San Leon that they are currently partnered with to install a survey box for assessment of the community’s needs. In that time, I was intrigued to learn about changes that could be made in the store to further support the initiative of providing greater access to fresh foods in the community.

During my second week, I observed multiple nutrition education classes where I saw how the MyPlate for My Family and Cooking Matters curriculums were utilized to teach families and middle school children, respectively. I really enjoyed watching the classes, assisting with the food demonstrations, and interacting with people in an educational manner. It was an experience I have not had before! At the end of the week, I attended Seeding Galveston’s farm stand where I helped prepare ingredients for the food demonstration we did. We made a warm winter salad using some leafy greens from Seeding Galveston, including chrysanthemum leaves. I was really excited for this as it was my first time trying chrysanthemum leaves, and I highly recommend them as an addition to salads!

My third week focused on having a greater presence in the nutrition education classes and visiting a few food pantries partnered with GCFB. We were able to visit Catholic Charities, UTMB’s Picnic Basket, and St. Vincent’s House to see how each pantry operated in their own way. Catholic Charities had what was essentially a full client choice setup. Because they of their layout, it felt more like grocery shopping in a store rather than receiving food from a pantry. There I was also able to see SWAP posters in action and how they are used in a full choice pantry. The Picnic Basket had a full choice setup as well but was much smaller in scale. Similar to the pantry at GCFB, St. Vincent’s House was more of a limited choice with specified items being bagged and given to clients. It was interesting for me to see the unique issues that different pantries face and how they work to resolve them on their own. I realized that there is no one-size-fits-all way to operate a pantry and absolutely depends on the needs of the client base. For one of the classes, I created and led a true/false activity which covered material regarding decreasing sodium intake. In the activity, there would be a statement related to the topic which people would guess was true or false. I didn’t expect to have so much fun interacting with people through such a small activity, but I really enjoyed getting to educate in a more interesting and exciting way.

In my last week at GCFB, I worked on creating an informational recipe card for the Picnic Basket at UTMB that contained basic information about dry lentils and how to cook them as well as an easy and simple chilled lentil salad recipe. Additionally, I filmed and edited a recipe video for the chilled lentil salad. I had so much fun creating the video and going through that process. It was definitely a lot of hard work, but I really loved being able to sharpen my cooking skills and utilize my creativity in a different way. I also led a family class on the topic of saturated and trans fats, which was nerve-wracking and invigorating. Through this, I realized just how much I joy I get from educating others about nutrition!

With all these experiences, I felt like I was able to see the many ways in which we can impact people’s lives through nutrition in the community. Every staff member at GCFB works hard to ensure people are fed across the county, and the nutrition education department takes a step further to constantly provide nutrition education in a multitude of ways. I loved working with every individual and am so grateful for the experiences I was afforded at GCFB. I genuinely enjoyed every minute of my time there, and it was an experience I will always carry with me!

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Hello! ? My name is Sarah Bigham, and I am a dietetic intern at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). I came to the Galveston County Food Bank for my 4-week community rotation in July 2022. My time with the food bank was a humbling experience. It was an enriching time that allowed me to create recipes, make food demonstration videos, teach classes, create handouts, and explore the impact of nutrition in the community as a nutrition educator. Namely, I got to see various community locations partnered with the Food Bank, learn about policies and food-assistance programs, and see the impact of disseminating nutrition knowledge to multiple age groups.

During my first week, I worked with Aemen (Nutrition Educator) to learn about governmental assistance programs, including SNAP and Healthy Eating Research (HER), and their curriculum. I learned about their specific impact on the food bank. For instance, they’re working to create a choice pantry with food labeled green, red, or yellow. Green means to consume often, yellow means to eat occasionally, and red means to limit. This is known as the SWAP stoplight method. I also learned about their partnerships with Seeding Galveston and the corner store project where they’re working to make healthier foods more accessible.

I got to go with Karee (Nutrition Education Coordinator at the time) to observe at the Moody Methodist Day School where I got to see how they use the evidence-based Organwise Guys curriculum, which utilizes cartoon organ characters to teach nutrition to children. The class covered diabetes, and I was impressed to see how knowledgeable the kids were about the pancreas. At the end of the week, I got to observe Alexis (Nutrition Education Coordinator) and Lana (Nutrition Assistant) teach the Catholic Charities class, which covered whole grains with a demonstration of hummus and homemade whole-grain chips.

I also got to help out at Galveston’s Own Farmers Market. We demonstrated how to make veggie chips and handed out flyers on how to limit sodium in the diet. We made veggie chips from beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, and zucchini. We made them with seasonings such as garlic powder and black pepper to add flavor without using salt.

I worked with Alexis, Charli (Nutrition Educator), and Lana for the remainder of my rotation. In my second week, I started working with the kids at the Moody Methodist Day School in Galveston. Alexis led the discussion on MyPlate, and I led an activity where the kids had to correctly identify whether or not the foods were in the correct MyPlate category. For example, five numbered foods would show up under the vegetable category, but two would not be a vegetable. The kids had to correctly identify the wrong ones with a show of their fingers. It was my first time teaching the kids, and I discovered that teaching children is something I love to do. It was rewarding to see them express their knowledge and interest in eating healthy.

Later in the week, we went to Seeding Galveston and the corner store. Here, I saw first-hand how partnerships and environmental changes impact nutrition. Signage on doors and the arrangement of the store stood out to me. It’s not typical to see corner stores promote fresh fruits and vegetables from the area, but this was an excellent change to witness. What the food bank does through their partnerships to make healthier options more available is part of what I loved experiencing.

In my third week, I focused on the Catholic Charities project. The food bank teaches a class there, and they are starting a new series in August. This time, the participants will get a box with all the ingredients needed to make the recipes we demonstrate in class. I spent the week creating recipes, making and filming them, and creating videos to put on the YouTube channel as a visual aid in making the recipe. It was my first time editing videos, but I built up my creativity skills here, and it was fulfilling to find affordable, accessible, easy meals for people to make on a budget that still taste great!

Pictured is me next to the chalkboard I designed in my final week. It went with a handout I created on SNAP and WIC at the farmers market. After assessing the community and seeing Galveston’s Own Farmers Market, I realized that not many people knew they could use SNAP at the market, let alone get their benefits doubled. I wanted to disseminate the knowledge to the community here so they can get the most out of their benefits and utilize a great source of fruits and vegetables that also aids our farmers in the area.

I also led two classes during my final week at the food bank. I used the evidence-based Organwise Guys curriculum to teach kids between K and fourth grade about organs and good nutrition. Both classes introduced the kids to the Organwise Guys characters. To help them remember all the organs, I created an Organ Bingo. The kids loved it, and it allowed me to quiz them on the organs with each call of an organ to help build their memory. Working with the kids quickly became a favorite task at the food bank. Not only was it fun, but extending nutrition knowledge to the kids felt impactful. It was something they were excited about, and I knew they would take their newfound knowledge home to their parents.

Working in the community, in general, felt like a direct impact. I got to assist at the mobile food distribution and volunteer in the pantry. Seeing the people come through and get needed groceries, and knowing we were doing something good for people made me feel like I was in the right place. I’ve found a new love for the community setting in dietetics. Coming into my program at UTMB, I was sure I wanted to be a clinical dietitian. While it’s still a large interest of mine, community nutrition has quickly become a favorite. It was an honor to spend time with the food bank and meet so many people in the community. Everything the food bank does is inspiring and admirable. To be a part of it is something I will cherish forever.

The post Dietetic Intern: Sarah Bigham first appeared on Galveston County Food Bank.

While working on the corner store project, we got to work with a store on Galveston Island to enhance healthy options in their store. The store manager was excited to have us come in and help provide healthy options and teach him. To help educate him and other store owners, I created a guide to teach them what to look for in healthy foods, how to maximize their store organization, and what federal programs they can accept with certain standards.

Through these four weeks, I have learned a lot about how GCFB interacts with the surrounding communities and the amount of effort given to provide healthy options and nutrition education.

During my first couple of weeks, I would observe and assist with nutrition education and cooking classes. I would create recipe cards, nutrition facts labels, and build activities for classes. Later in my rotation, I helped create recipe videos. Also, I edited them for the GCFB YouTube channel. Throughout my time, I created handouts for educational purposes.

When working on the Senior Hunger Program, I evaluated medically tailored boxes with Ale Nutrition Educator, MS. This was interesting to see how they constructed the boxes based on usual food and specially ordered foods. Furthermore, we compared the nutritional values recommended for a nutritional disease state.

In my third week, I got to design an activity for the parents in our evening class. I created a MyPlate-themed Scattergories game. During this week I also got to attend the Galveston’s Own Farmers Market with the food bank. We demonstrated food safety practices and knife skills. The recipe of the week of ‘garlic shrimp stir fry.’ Many of the vegetables used in the dish came from the farmer’s market that day. We had a meeting with Seeding Galveston and got to see their vision for the future and how they want to be more involved with the community. Their program offers amazing vegetables and plants for people to buy weekly. I and other UTMB interns were able to attend a Korean cooking class. This event was amazing and opened my eyes to Korean cuisine and culture.

In my last week, I got to lead a class at an elementary school. To teach the class I used the evidence-based curriculum Organwise Guys. Organwise Guys focuses on elementary school age children and teaching them to have a healthy diet, drink water, and exercise. This program shows how all the organs in our bodies help keep us healthy and active, and how we can keep them healthy. I taught over the first week, this week focused on learning about the individual organs and how they contribute to the body. The activity I created was kids got to pick their favorite organ from the Organwise guys. Once they chose their favorite organ, they had to write an interesting fact and something new they learned about the organ. Next, they got to share to the class their Organwise Guy info and take it home to tell their parents.

All in all, the nutrition staff works very hard to make healthy living fun and enjoyable through various avenues. It has been a joy and pleasure to work with such an amazing team that cares for the Galveston County community.  

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During my first couple of weeks at the food bank, I worked with the Senior Homebound Program Coordinator, Ale. The Senior Homebound Program provides supplemental food boxes that cater to specific health conditions that seniors in the community face, such as diabetes, gastrointestinal problems, and kidney disease. The boxes designed for kidney disease include food products moderate in protein and low potassium, phosphorus, and sodium. I also created nutrition education pamphlets to include with these boxes, specifically related to congestive heart failure, the DASH Diet, and the importance of hydration. Ale and I also helped assemble these special boxes with volunteers for distribution. I loved being a part of the volunteer team, helping with the box construction, and seeing the outcome.

Featured is a picture of me next to the chalkboard design that I created for January. I tied in fun nutrition puns with the beginning of the new year to encourage clients and staff to have a positive start to their year. In December, I created a holiday-themed chalkboard for the winter holidays. The handout that went along with this chalkboard included budget-friendly holiday tips and a budget-friendly soup recipe to stay warm during the holiday season.

I also created lesson plans and activities for several elementary school classes. For a lesson plan about family meal planning and teamwork in the kitchen, I created a matching game for the class. Four tables were used to display four images: a refrigerator, a cabinet, a pantry, and a dishwasher. Each student was given four small images that they had to sort between the four tables with images. The students then took turns to tell the class about the images they had and where they placed them. For example, if a student had an image of a can of peas and another image of strawberries, they would place the strawberries in the fridge, canned peas in the pantry, and then share with the class what they did.

I had another opportunity to create an activity for an established lesson plan. The lesson plan was an introduction to the OrganWise Guys, cartoon characters that resemble organs and emphasize the importance of healthy foods and lifestyle for healthy organs and a healthy body. The activity that I created included a large visual of the OrganWise Guys and different food models evenly distributed amongst teams of students. One by one, each group would share with the class what food items they had, what part of MyPlate they belong to, what organ benefits from those food items, and why that organ benefits from those food items. For example, one of the teams had an apple, asparagus, whole grain bread, and a whole grain tortilla. I asked the team what those food items have in common (fiber), and what organ specifically loves fiber! I loved getting to see the students critically think and work together.

I also led a lesson plan. This lesson plan included a review of the OrganWise Guy, a presentation about diabetes, and a fun coloring activity! In all the classes that I got to be a part of, it was especially rewarding seeing the excitement, interest, and knowledge displayed by the students.

For much of my time at the food bank, I also worked with Aemen and Alexis, two of the nutrition educators at the food bank, on the Nutrition Department’s Corner Store Project. The goal of this project is to create interventions for corner stores to implement to increase access to healthy food items. I helped Aemen and Alexis in the assessment phase of this project, which included visiting several corner stores in Galveston County and assessing the healthy products offered at each location. We looked for fresh produce, low-fat dairy, whole grains, low-sodium nuts, and canned food items, 100% fruit juice, baked chips, and more. We also observed the layout of the store and the visibility of healthy food items. We identified small layout changes and nudges that the corner stores could implement to make a big difference in the corner store’s customers’ purchasing behavior.

Another large project that I completed was a Nutrition Toolkit for the Salvation Army. For this project, I worked with Karee, the nutrition education coordinator. Karee oversees Healthy Pantry, a project that develops and nurtures partnerships between the food bank and local food pantries. The Salvation Army in Galveston recently partnered with the food bank and developed a food pantry. The Salvation Army needed nutrition education resources, so Karee and I visited their facility and assessed their needs. One of their largest needs was nutrition material to bridge the transition of clients from living in the shelter to moving into their residence. Therefore, I created a Nutrition Toolkit that included general nutrition information emphasizing MyPlate, budgeting, food safety, navigating government assistance programs (highlighting SNAP and WIC), recipes, and more! I also created pre-and post-surveys for the Salvation Army to administer. The pre-and post-surveys will help assess the effectiveness of the Nutrition Toolkit.

My favorite part about interning at the food bank is the ongoing chance to learn and positively impact the community. I loved working with such a passionate, positive, and intelligent team. I am very thankful for the time I spent interning at the Galveston County Food Bank! I am excited to see the team continue to make positive changes in the community and look forward to going back to volunteer!

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