My name is Trang Nguyen and I’m UTMB a dietetic intern rotating at the Galveston County Food Bank (GCFB). I interned at GCFB for four weeks from October to November 2020, and now coming back after more than a year for two more weeks in November 2021. I totally can see the differences within the GCFB, not only in the appearance of the office but also in staff wise and how much each program grows.

Through the four weeks that I was here last year, I created nutrition education materials include videos, recipes, and brochures. I also taught virtual and in-person group nutrition education for kids and adults and worked with Healthy Pantry Initiative Projects funded by the SNAP-Ed grant under Feeding Texas. I also helped the GCFB pack products to see what ingredients they have in there, so I can use them in creating the recipes. I always try to include kids in the kitchen activities so the recipe needs to be easy enough for the kids to do, and cannot include so much cutting, chopping, or hard knife skills. With the meal boxes, I created the recipe with affordable and shelf-stable ingredients so people can easy to buy, store, and cook it.

Last year during the time that I was at GCFB, we were still under the Covid-19 pandemic, so all the nutrition education classes and activities were moved virtually. Every week, I recorded and edited two 20-minutes video classes for the kinder garden to fifth-grade kids. I like this program since the teacher from all elementary schools in Galveston County can use this material in their classes to educate kids about nutrition. These nutrition classes include the materials relate to the role that organs and food play in our bodies, the vitamin, and minerals our bodies need, etc.

This year, with more and more people getting the Covid vaccines, we could go to school and teach nutrition classes for an after-school program. I definitely think it is more interactive this way because the kids can be more engaged in the activities and not just seat there listen to the virtual classes. Furthermore, I translated some nutrition education handouts into Vietnamese. GCFB is currently creating “nutrition materials in many languages” on their websites to serve a variety of people. So if you are fluent in any other languages and willing to help, you can use your knowledge, skills, and creativity to help a lot of people.