Congratulations FSTP San Diego Graduates!

Eleven San Diegans completed our Food Smarts Training Program on Friday, January 6th.  They represented a wide variety of agencies, many working in the City Heights neighborhood.  The training was a collaboration with Feeding American San Diego, who both helped fund the training and outreached to their partners.  The training was held at City Height Wellness Center - a perfect location for our conversations and our cooking. Many thanksto Lisa Vandevort for working her magic to get the room free for two full days!

Thanks also to Shahla Abtahi-Sepah and Ruthi Solari, both of San Diego County Health and Human Services (Ruthi is also the founder of SuperFood Drive) for their wonderful work training our participants in the basics of health, nutrition, and working with underserved populations.

Our thanks and congratulations to:

Maxine Smith, City Heights Community Development Corporation

John Lowther, Salvation Army KROC Center

Caroline Raedeker, Feeding America San Diego

Allen Rosenbaum, Feeding America San Diego

Dollis Peters, South Bay SDA

Kristin Kverland, International Rescue Committee, SD

Lisa Vandevort, City Heights Wellness Center

Yajaira Preciando, YWCA San Diego

Oneida Ramirez, Home Start

Mary Prince, Bayside Community Center

Stephanie Paine, San Diego Rescue Mission

We are looking forward to supporting them as they run their workshops and learning more about the amazing work they are doing in their community.

Congratulations to our new FSTP Graduates!

A warm and hearty congratulations to the newest graduates of our Food Smarts Training Program!  We held two separate trainings - one in San Francisco & one in Oakland.  Thank you to the San Francisco Food Bank for providing the great space and scholarships to attendees.  Thanks to BRIDGE Housing and the staff of Mandela Gateway Apartments for the donation of their community room.

FSTP graduates were trained to run our Food Smarts Workshops at their sites.  They are now ready to faciliate health, cooking, and nutrition workshops to their clients.  We are proud to see our curriculum expand, and grateful for the feedback and suggestions of our trainers to help us create the most effective, cultural competent, and flexible program in the state.

Alexandra Brewster, Rubicon Programs

Jarekye Covarrubius , Rubicon Programs

Lauren Johnson, Americorp Volunteer - Tom Waddell Health Clinic & Hamilton Family Center

Nancy Hairgrove, SafeQuest Solano

Norma Quinonez, Santa Inez Apartments

Kelly Johnson, Community Focus

Vella Black-Roberts, Alameda DPH, MPCAH, IPOP

Shanelle Flowers, Alameda DPH, IPOP

Carmelia Calmo Ramirez, Alameda DPH, MADRE

Rebecca Alvarado, Alameda DPH, MADRE

Maureen Byrne, Tom Waddell Health Center (SFDPH)

Felicia Bradley, Chinatown CDC

Jazmine Wilson, Walden House SHOP Program

Gail Axelrod, Baker Place

Drea Riquelme, Brighter Beginnings

Karla Zambrano-Armijos, Holy Family Day Home

FSTP Testimonial

Thanks to Mandy Boatright, April 2011 FSTP Grad and Food Pantry Coordinator for North Beach Citizens Association, for sharing these thoughts on her recently completed workshop.

Leah's pantry brought not only knowledge about food to my clients, but also created bonds with the attendees and myself.  These classes are very informative and easily adaptable to all lifestyles.  I target SROs and homeless in North Beach.  My clients depend weekly on the food we provide at the food pantry, so we adapted each class to use only what they would receive for free that week.  We also did a lot of sharing of cooking tips, best places to buy food and supplies, how to use coupons and how to make cooking plans for the week.  I know some of these ideas are simple, but to someone overwhelmed with all other aspects of life they need to have guidance to start them back on the right track.

This program is awesome because it not only teaches a more healthy lifestyle, it shows that the clients do have control over some parts of their lives.  By the end of the course I noticed not only a more confident outlook over food choices, but a boost in self esteem knowing they made the changes on their own.  Thank you Leah's pantry for helping my clients (and me) have the confidence and knowledge we need to live a healthy life.


Mandy Boatright
Food Pantry Coordinator