Happy April! This month we’re meeting Florence. Florence has a long history in the culinary world, and has been volunteering at HIP this spring as a teaching assistant for our first ever virtual Cooking Matters course. She chose to help with a cooking class as a means of exploring the teaching side of cooking, which she hasn’t had a chance to do yet in her culinary career.
There are many things that Florence enjoys about teaching the Cooking Matters course. “I’m really interested in the curriculum itself,” she explained. “I think it’s really cool the way that they incorporate not only nutrition but also really practical advice as far as how to read a recipe, how to look at a nutrition label, that kind of thing.” She also likes the conversations that come up while teaching the course. “I like how many conversations there are about, what does healthy look like in America versus the rest of the world…and how there are different definitions of health and that there isn’t necessarily one way to be healthy.”
When learning about HIP, Florence was impressed by the direct impact of the organization. “It really struck me how successful and direct your impact has been in the community…it feels like a really tangible service that you’re providing to the community and I’m all about that.” We happen to like Florence a lot too, which is why we also brought her on as a temporary part-time hire to help in the kitchen while in between Shelter Meals coordinators!
When not at HIP, Florence serves as a part of United Way of King County’s HungerCorps team. She works at the YMCA distributing food resources through before- and after-school meal programs and community mobile markets. In the future she hopes to combine her love of being in the kitchen with her passion for creating a more equitable food system. If you see Florence around HIP this month be sure to say hello!
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