From the last week of May to the end of July, I had an 8-week internship working on the outside of Indianapolis at Crooked Creek Food Pantry. On Mondays and Tuesdays, we worked on restocking the food pantry. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we distributed food to people in the community serving about 1,000 families a week. It is structured like a
drive thru. We also had the opportunity to meet with a physician on Thursday lunches to do education lessons as well as preforming ultrasounds on one another.
This opportunity was amazing I had the opportunity to learn about how food insecurity affects healthcare firsthand. As well as help relieve the issue of food insecurity. Working with the volunteers at the food pantry I was able to understand what was enabling others to act and give back to the community. The hospital had an interesting aspect to where people could attend the food pantry if they had a referral from the clinic. This was an interesting aspect because this was to relieve financial stress of increasing food prices and inflation. The hospital had surveys for the patients to fill out and they did evaluations on financial need.
The internship was a great opportunity to see how these groups all interact with one another for the best outcome. I also got to experience traveling to other food pantries. I was able to work on research for developing a communication network with clients that attend the food pantry. This was a great way to involve my global health minor by communicating with other organizations to develop and understand the big picture. I also learned how to communicate with a lot of other organizations and partnering with other groups and individuals. These are skills that will serve me extremely well in the future. This solidified the information I received in my global health class. This was an opportunity that opened a lot of doors that will continue to make an impact on the rest of my life.
