The Participant's Workbook for Safe Food For The Hungry '96 contains some introductory pages geared to participants along with the factsheets, worksheets, quizzes, instructions, keys, etc. from the Site Activity Guide (all materials except the lesson instructions which are for the use of the site facilitators.) If you intend to download the HTML versions of the site materials (rather than the Acrobat versions which is preferable), it would be most efficient if you were to download materials only once. Therefore, below you will find the introductory pages only for each major section of the Participant's Workbook. To assemble workbooks for your participants, collate the pages below with the Site Activity Guide materials as follows:
Good afternoon. Hunger is a large and growing problem in the United States. More than 12% of the population is affected. Women, children the elderly, and minority populations are the largest groups of victims.
The results of hunger are profound and devastating. Infants born to hungry mothers may be premature and suffer from health problems. Hungry children lack energy, get sick more often, and have difficulty learning. Hungry adults have trouble concentrating, lack ambition, and have poor self-discipline.
Hungry people need food, but filling stomachs is not enough. The food must also be safe and nutritious.
Your mission is threefold:
Food poisoning organisms, like E.coli, Salmonella, and Staph aureus, can contaminate food that is handled or stored improperly.
The "golden rule" when working with food is: "When in doubt, throw it out." This may seem wasteful and contrary to your mission as an emergency food provider. But, throwing away questionable food is not wasteful. Microorganisms that can contaminate food and cause food poisoning cannot be seen without a microscope. Contaminated food may look, taste, and smell fine, but it can be deadly.
To combat these food safety villains, you must defuse the food safety time bomb with its component parts of source, food, time, and temperature.
Each of the learning center activities in this section focuses on one aspect of the food safety time bomb. Visit each learning center and complete the activity to receive a piece of the food safety time bomb. When you have all four pieces, the time bomb is defused!
The first mission of emergency feeding programs is to provide food. But filling stomachs is not enough. The food must also be nutritious.
Calories alone are not sufficient. To be healthy, people need the right combination of nutrients. No one food provides all the nutrients necessary to stay healthy. It's best to provide a variety of different foods.
The Food Guide Pyramid is a guide for selecting foods for a healthy diet. Start with lots of breads, cereal, rice, pasta, vegetables, and fruit. Add some milk and meat, and go easy on the fats, oils, and sweets.
Is it possible for an emergency feeding program that operates mostly on donated foods to provide nutritious meals or food bags for its clients? Each of the learning center activities in this section is designed to help you understand the concept of the Food Guide Pyramid and give you practice in using it to provide healthy food for your clients.
Visit each learning center and complete the activity to receive a piece of the Food Guide Pyramid. When you have all three pieces, the pyramid is complete!
Emergency feeding programs come in a variety of sizes and operational styles. Some are large with full-time, trained staff members. Many are small and operate mainly with volunteer help. Regardless of your program's size or staffing, all emergency feeding programs share a common goal -- providing safe, nutritious food to people who might otherwise go without.
The STRETCH materials that are included in your tool kit were designed as a self-assessment tool, to help emergency food providers determine the strengths and weaknesses of their individual programs.
Included in the STRETCH materials is a set of 18 cards. Each card contains a series of questions about a specific part of your operation.
Read the heading on each card. If this is not an activity that your organization does, set the card aside. Otherwise, keep the card.
Once you have eliminated those cards that do not apply to your program, look at each card again. Read each of the questions on the card. Think about them. If you feel that your organization is adequately doing each of the questions on a card, set that card aside. If you feel that your organization could improve the way it handles one or more questions on a card, keep the card.
After finishing the second step, you should be left with a series of cards that contain areas that may need more thought or improvement. Some of the questions can be addressed simply. Others are more complex and may require a long term commitment of time or a large out lay of money. Read each of the remaining cards again. Determine which of the problem areas you feel your program needs to address. Set goals and prioritize them.
Use the worksheet provided to record your goals and priorities.
In addition to the STRETCH card set, your STRETCH packet contains a series of 18 Information Sheets -- one corresponding to each card. These Information Sheets provide more detailed information about each of the questions on the cards. They also contain recommendations, suggestions, and ideas.
Name: ______________________________________________________________ Organization: ________________________________________________________ Address of Organization: _______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Type of Service Provided: ______________________________________________ Average Number of Clients Served: ____________________________e.g. per day Self-Assessment Information: What Number Cards Did You Choose to Keep? ________________________________________________________________________ Based on the cards you selected, what are your short-term goals? Based on the cards you selected, what are your long-term goals?