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Farmlink’s Innovation, Education and Leadership Development (FIELD) Fellowship is an 8-month immersion-based program that catalyzes the next generation of ambitious leaders to create sustainable solutions within the food space. This summer, our team matched our fellows with eleven partner organizations for 10 weeks of on-the-ground work, actively combating issues facing our food system. Our program provides unique hands-on opportunities to students, while demonstrating our recognition and admiration for local food system actors; we are committed to bringing students to learn from and within their local systems!
As summer comes to a close, so does the first ever immersion phase and we’re thrilled to share what some of our FIELD fellows have been up to:
Aditi Kulkarni is an upcoming senior at Michigan State University. She studies Comparative Cultures and Politics and is interested in student food insecurity, local and international development, and food system operations. Aditi shadowed Produce Packaging Inc. (PPI) in Willoughby Hills, OH this summer. PPI is a large-scale produce processing and packaging warehouse that receives produce orders from grocery stores, school districts, and different clientele in the Midwest. Aditi says she was lucky enough to have the opportunity to explore every department at PPI, learning about purchasing,on-the-floor management, and even client and staff management in the food system.
Alysia Jimenez is a graduate of University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and traveled to California this summer for Farmlink. Alysia spent her first half of the summer working closely with The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank, interacting with stakeholders, working hands-on in food sorting, and exploring local policy. She even helped them with a special project, Local Food Purchasing, aimed at strengthening local food systems. Alysia spent the second half of her summer working with Farm to Pantry, a community-driven organization gleaning produce from backyard and local sites in order to provide their neighbors with fresh produce. In both experiences, Alysia explored the intricacies of localized food systems and brought valuable insights to Farmlink on community relationship development.
Anna Bowden recently graduated Louisiana State University with her Bachelor’s of Science in Nutrition, Health and Society. She’s passionate about ensuring that nutritious food is accessible for everyone… sound familiar? Anna spent her summer with ProduceGood in San Diego, shadowing a small but mighty gleaning team and coordinating a 1,000+ volunteer network. Anna helped ProduceGood rescue and redistribute food from all levels, including relationship development at farmers markets, harvesting from private residences, farms, and even rescuing surplus from grocery stores. Anna is excited about the immense difference one dedicated individual can create in their community.
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Ariel Cook is a recent Loyola Marymount University grad who spent her summer working hard for two Seattle-based organizations, Harvest Against Hunger and West Seattle Food Bank. Ariel first joined the FIELD Fellowship to learn more about what advocacy in food systems policy work looks like, and now works on a range of projects to support the farm-to-pantry team at Harvest Against Hunger. Ariel also regularly conducts independent research with stakeholders at West Seattle Food Bank on funding barriers for food-justice organizations of different sizes. Ariel is thrilled about data collection and getting to know new people in food policy.
Conor Flynn is a recent St. John's College graduate based out of Annapolis, MD. This summer, he traveled to Ohio and spent June working with the Mid Ohio Food Collective. Conor supported the organization on multiple initiatives, including their onsite drive-through pantry, no-cost grocery store, warehouse reclamation, urban garden, distributing agencies, and pantries. In July, Conor traveled to Chicago, IL and worked closely with Dr. Howard Rosling of DePaul University, developing a compost pilot and urban gardening and mapping project. Conor hopes to combine the learnings from both experiences and pursue project design on resilient and sustainable local food systems.
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Gillian Feinglass is a rising senior at Emory University and spent the summer at Governors Island, a 10-minute ferry ride off her hometown, New York City. Despite NYC’s longstanding challenges with trash, this island is a focused case study on what a zero-waste management system could look like. Here, Gillian has shadowed the work of Earth Matter NYC learning all about their composting practices and waste management techniques, like a precise recipe of water, oxygen, and organic matter (food scraps) for effective compost! At Farmlink, we believe that abundant food should feed people, but when waste is unavoidable, proper composting is a great alternative! Gillian is now working to better understand and improve Farmlink’s relationship with food waste.
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Kennedy Wilcox hails from Dallas, TX and joined Farmlink because she is passionate about helping food insecure families and children have access to safe food. Kennedy spent her immersion months at The Brazos Valley Food Bank in Bryan, TX where she had the chance to experience the adaptive nature of the food banking community. Reflecting on one particularly special immersion experience, Kennedy recalls volunteering at a mobile pantry in rural Texas the day after a major storm. Across the town of Madisonville, there were power lines blocking roads, blown-over trees, damaged homes and businesses, and maintenance crews everywhere. To Kennedy, it was clear that her team arrived right when the community needed them the most. Kennedy recounted that as she passed out fresh food to families in distress, "it was so rewarding to see the joyful looks on their faces as they received food in a time of crisis. I will never forget this day; it showed me the importance of mobile food pantries and how they help people who are temporarily struggling for a variety of reasons.”
Margot Kirby spent her summer in Seattle after graduating from UCLA. Margot worked at University District Food Bank supporting all areas of their operations. In doing so, she had the opportunity to travel all over Seattle! She did everything from working front desk at the food bank, to sorting in their warehouse, and even driving to numerous grocery stores rescuing surplus for the food bank. Margot is actively exploring how to better support Seattle food systems, and plans to continue involvement with University District Food Bank in the fall.
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Owen Clark is a rising senior at Lewis & Clark College from Sonoma, CA. For his summer immersion, Owen uncovered new knowledge and experience within his own Sonoma community. Owen worked with Farm to Pantry, a community-driven organization gleaning produce from backyard and local sites in order to provide their neighbors with fresh produce. He led community gleans, worked regular shifts at community gardens, developed new community relationships, and supported an expansive volunteer network for Farm to Pantry. Owen has navigated the intricacies of community-designed solutions, and brings back valuable insights to Farmlink of how a national organization can be best positioned to support local relationship-driven rescue and distribution efforts.
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Farmlink’s Innovation, Education and Leadership Development (FIELD) Fellowship is an 8-month immersion-based program that catalyzes the next generation of ambitious leaders to create sustainable solutions within the food space. This summer, our team matched our fellows with eleven partner organizations for 10 weeks of on-the-ground work, actively combating issues facing our food system. Our program provides unique hands-on opportunities to students, while demonstrating our recognition and admiration for local food system actors; we are committed to bringing students to learn from and within their local systems!
As summer comes to a close, so does the first ever immersion phase and we’re thrilled to share what some of our FIELD fellows have been up to:
Aditi Kulkarni is an upcoming senior at Michigan State University. She studies Comparative Cultures and Politics and is interested in student food insecurity, local and international development, and food system operations. Aditi shadowed Produce Packaging Inc. (PPI) in Willoughby Hills, OH this summer. PPI is a large-scale produce processing and packaging warehouse that receives produce orders from grocery stores, school districts, and different clientele in the Midwest. Aditi says she was lucky enough to have the opportunity to explore every department at PPI, learning about purchasing,on-the-floor management, and even client and staff management in the food system.
Alysia Jimenez is a graduate of University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and traveled to California this summer for Farmlink. Alysia spent her first half of the summer working closely with The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank, interacting with stakeholders, working hands-on in food sorting, and exploring local policy. She even helped them with a special project, Local Food Purchasing, aimed at strengthening local food systems. Alysia spent the second half of her summer working with Farm to Pantry, a community-driven organization gleaning produce from backyard and local sites in order to provide their neighbors with fresh produce. In both experiences, Alysia explored the intricacies of localized food systems and brought valuable insights to Farmlink on community relationship development.
Anna Bowden recently graduated Louisiana State University with her Bachelor’s of Science in Nutrition, Health and Society. She’s passionate about ensuring that nutritious food is accessible for everyone… sound familiar? Anna spent her summer with ProduceGood in San Diego, shadowing a small but mighty gleaning team and coordinating a 1,000+ volunteer network. Anna helped ProduceGood rescue and redistribute food from all levels, including relationship development at farmers markets, harvesting from private residences, farms, and even rescuing surplus from grocery stores. Anna is excited about the immense difference one dedicated individual can create in their community.
Ariel Cook is a recent Loyola Marymount University grad who spent her summer working hard for two Seattle-based organizations, Harvest Against Hunger and West Seattle Food Bank. Ariel first joined the FIELD Fellowship to learn more about what advocacy in food systems policy work looks like, and now works on a range of projects to support the farm-to-pantry team at Harvest Against Hunger. Ariel also regularly conducts independent research with stakeholders at West Seattle Food Bank on funding barriers for food-justice organizations of different sizes. Ariel is thrilled about data collection and getting to know new people in food policy.
Conor Flynn is a recent St. John's College graduate based out of Annapolis, MD. This summer, he traveled to Ohio and spent June working with the Mid Ohio Food Collective. Conor supported the organization on multiple initiatives, including their onsite drive-through pantry, no-cost grocery store, warehouse reclamation, urban garden, distributing agencies, and pantries. In July, Conor traveled to Chicago, IL and worked closely with Dr. Howard Rosling of DePaul University, developing a compost pilot and urban gardening and mapping project. Conor hopes to combine the learnings from both experiences and pursue project design on resilient and sustainable local food systems.
Gillian Feinglass is a rising senior at Emory University and spent the summer at Governors Island, a 10-minute ferry ride off her hometown, New York City. Despite NYC’s longstanding challenges with trash, this island is a focused case study on what a zero-waste management system could look like. Here, Gillian has shadowed the work of Earth Matter NYC learning all about their composting practices and waste management techniques, like a precise recipe of water, oxygen, and organic matter (food scraps) for effective compost! At Farmlink, we believe that abundant food should feed people, but when waste is unavoidable, proper composting is a great alternative! Gillian is now working to better understand and improve Farmlink’s relationship with food waste.
Kennedy Wilcox hails from Dallas, TX and joined Farmlink because she is passionate about helping food insecure families and children have access to safe food. Kennedy spent her immersion months at The Brazos Valley Food Bank in Bryan, TX where she had the chance to experience the adaptive nature of the food banking community. Reflecting on one particularly special immersion experience, Kennedy recalls volunteering at a mobile pantry in rural Texas the day after a major storm. Across the town of Madisonville, there were power lines blocking roads, blown-over trees, damaged homes and businesses, and maintenance crews everywhere. To Kennedy, it was clear that her team arrived right when the community needed them the most. Kennedy recounted that as she passed out fresh food to families in distress, "it was so rewarding to see the joyful looks on their faces as they received food in a time of crisis. I will never forget this day; it showed me the importance of mobile food pantries and how they help people who are temporarily struggling for a variety of reasons.”
Margot Kirby spent her summer in Seattle after graduating from UCLA. Margot worked at University District Food Bank supporting all areas of their operations. In doing so, she had the opportunity to travel all over Seattle! She did everything from working front desk at the food bank, to sorting in their warehouse, and even driving to numerous grocery stores rescuing surplus for the food bank. Margot is actively exploring how to better support Seattle food systems, and plans to continue involvement with University District Food Bank in the fall.
Owen Clark is a rising senior at Lewis & Clark College from Sonoma, CA. For his summer immersion, Owen uncovered new knowledge and experience within his own Sonoma community. Owen worked with Farm to Pantry, a community-driven organization gleaning produce from backyard and local sites in order to provide their neighbors with fresh produce. He led community gleans, worked regular shifts at community gardens, developed new community relationships, and supported an expansive volunteer network for Farm to Pantry. Owen has navigated the intricacies of community-designed solutions, and brings back valuable insights to Farmlink of how a national organization can be best positioned to support local relationship-driven rescue and distribution efforts.
Meet our 2023 FIELD Fellows!
Farmlink’s Innovation, Education and Leadership Development (FIELD) Fellowship is an 8-month immersion-based program that catalyzes the next generation of ambitious leaders to create sustainable solutions within the food space. This summer, our team matched our fellows with eleven partner organizations for 10 weeks of on-the-ground work, actively combating issues facing our food system. Our program provides unique hands-on opportunities to students, while demonstrating our recognition and admiration for local food system actors; we are committed to bringing students to learn from and within their local systems!
As summer comes to a close, so does the first ever immersion phase and we’re thrilled to share what some of our FIELD fellows have been up to:
Aditi Kulkarni is an upcoming senior at Michigan State University. She studies Comparative Cultures and Politics and is interested in student food insecurity, local and international development, and food system operations. Aditi shadowed Produce Packaging Inc. (PPI) in Willoughby Hills, OH this summer. PPI is a large-scale produce processing and packaging warehouse that receives produce orders from grocery stores, school districts, and different clientele in the Midwest. Aditi says she was lucky enough to have the opportunity to explore every department at PPI, learning about purchasing,on-the-floor management, and even client and staff management in the food system.
Alysia Jimenez is a graduate of University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and traveled to California this summer for Farmlink. Alysia spent her first half of the summer working closely with The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank, interacting with stakeholders, working hands-on in food sorting, and exploring local policy. She even helped them with a special project, Local Food Purchasing, aimed at strengthening local food systems. Alysia spent the second half of her summer working with Farm to Pantry, a community-driven organization gleaning produce from backyard and local sites in order to provide their neighbors with fresh produce. In both experiences, Alysia explored the intricacies of localized food systems and brought valuable insights to Farmlink on community relationship development.
Anna Bowden recently graduated Louisiana State University with her Bachelor’s of Science in Nutrition, Health and Society. She’s passionate about ensuring that nutritious food is accessible for everyone… sound familiar? Anna spent her summer with ProduceGood in San Diego, shadowing a small but mighty gleaning team and coordinating a 1,000+ volunteer network. Anna helped ProduceGood rescue and redistribute food from all levels, including relationship development at farmers markets, harvesting from private residences, farms, and even rescuing surplus from grocery stores. Anna is excited about the immense difference one dedicated individual can create in their community.
Ariel Cook is a recent Loyola Marymount University grad who spent her summer working hard for two Seattle-based organizations, Harvest Against Hunger and West Seattle Food Bank. Ariel first joined the FIELD Fellowship to learn more about what advocacy in food systems policy work looks like, and now works on a range of projects to support the farm-to-pantry team at Harvest Against Hunger. Ariel also regularly conducts independent research with stakeholders at West Seattle Food Bank on funding barriers for food-justice organizations of different sizes. Ariel is thrilled about data collection and getting to know new people in food policy.
Conor Flynn is a recent St. John's College graduate based out of Annapolis, MD. This summer, he traveled to Ohio and spent June working with the Mid Ohio Food Collective. Conor supported the organization on multiple initiatives, including their onsite drive-through pantry, no-cost grocery store, warehouse reclamation, urban garden, distributing agencies, and pantries. In July, Conor traveled to Chicago, IL and worked closely with Dr. Howard Rosling of DePaul University, developing a compost pilot and urban gardening and mapping project. Conor hopes to combine the learnings from both experiences and pursue project design on resilient and sustainable local food systems.
Gillian Feinglass is a rising senior at Emory University and spent the summer at Governors Island, a 10-minute ferry ride off her hometown, New York City. Despite NYC’s longstanding challenges with trash, this island is a focused case study on what a zero-waste management system could look like. Here, Gillian has shadowed the work of Earth Matter NYC learning all about their composting practices and waste management techniques, like a precise recipe of water, oxygen, and organic matter (food scraps) for effective compost! At Farmlink, we believe that abundant food should feed people, but when waste is unavoidable, proper composting is a great alternative! Gillian is now working to better understand and improve Farmlink’s relationship with food waste.
Kennedy Wilcox hails from Dallas, TX and joined Farmlink because she is passionate about helping food insecure families and children have access to safe food. Kennedy spent her immersion months at The Brazos Valley Food Bank in Bryan, TX where she had the chance to experience the adaptive nature of the food banking community. Reflecting on one particularly special immersion experience, Kennedy recalls volunteering at a mobile pantry in rural Texas the day after a major storm. Across the town of Madisonville, there were power lines blocking roads, blown-over trees, damaged homes and businesses, and maintenance crews everywhere. To Kennedy, it was clear that her team arrived right when the community needed them the most. Kennedy recounted that as she passed out fresh food to families in distress, "it was so rewarding to see the joyful looks on their faces as they received food in a time of crisis. I will never forget this day; it showed me the importance of mobile food pantries and how they help people who are temporarily struggling for a variety of reasons.”
Margot Kirby spent her summer in Seattle after graduating from UCLA. Margot worked at University District Food Bank supporting all areas of their operations. In doing so, she had the opportunity to travel all over Seattle! She did everything from working front desk at the food bank, to sorting in their warehouse, and even driving to numerous grocery stores rescuing surplus for the food bank. Margot is actively exploring how to better support Seattle food systems, and plans to continue involvement with University District Food Bank in the fall.
Owen Clark is a rising senior at Lewis & Clark College from Sonoma, CA. For his summer immersion, Owen uncovered new knowledge and experience within his own Sonoma community. Owen worked with Farm to Pantry, a community-driven organization gleaning produce from backyard and local sites in order to provide their neighbors with fresh produce. He led community gleans, worked regular shifts at community gardens, developed new community relationships, and supported an expansive volunteer network for Farm to Pantry. Owen has navigated the intricacies of community-designed solutions, and brings back valuable insights to Farmlink of how a national organization can be best positioned to support local relationship-driven rescue and distribution efforts.
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