Cooking Matters Volunteer Nutrition Instructor

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If you're interested in this position, please email cookingmatters@capitalareafoodbank.org.

Position Overview:

Cooking Matters is a national 6-week, hands-on nutrition and cooking educational series developed by Share Our Strength. It is offered through the Capital Area Food Bank to limited resource participants around the DC Metropolitan Area. As a Nutrition Instructor, you will have the opportunity to work with a passionate team of volunteers to engage and encourage participants to choose healthier foods for a healthier lifestyle.

Classes are taught by a team of volunteer nutrition instructors, culinary instructors, and class assistants and cover basic nutrition, cooking, meal planning, and shopping. Classes are two hours in length and participants take home a grocery bag of ingredients to replicate class recipes at home. Volunteers receive the curriculum that will be taught in class. There are different curricula for a variety of different audiences including children 8 to 12 years old, adults, teens, teen parents, families, adults with preschool-aged children, and adults with specific medical conditions. Please visit www.cookingmatters.org for more information on the Cooking Matters Program.

Basic Function:

• Teach low-income individuals at risk of hunger how to select, purchase, and prepare healthy low-cost food.

Primary Duties:

• Teach the nutrition lesson components of a 6-week cooking & nutrition education class series to a group of 12-16 participants, using the lesson plans and recipes for each class provided by established curricula
• Use visuals and hands-on activities, and ask open-ended questions so that each class participant can actively participate and learn from each other
• Work in partnership with a volunteer Culinary Instructor to lead the class
• Highlight and supplement nutrition information with own culinary/health knowledge and experience

Minimum Requirements:

• Strong knowledge of nutrition and health. Nutrition/medical/health professional or B.S in Nutrition strongly preferred. Experience with nutrition education a plus. Highly motivated and experienced Senior nutrition students also acceptable and may work in pairs to lead the nutrition lessons in class
• Interest in working with low-income individuals with diverse backgrounds
• Dedication to helping alleviate hunger and poverty
• Teaching and/or leadership experience
• Communication or public speaking skills; comfortable speaking in front of an audience
• Ability to travel to class location
• Willingness to be trained in the Share Our Strength curricula, and plan for lesson delivery
• Willingness to work as a team and adhere to program policies and procedures

Physical Requirements:

• Must be able to stand for 2 hours and lead a hands-on, cooking & nutrition education class

Volunteer Work Schedule:

• 3 hours a day for one day a week for six consecutive weeks (2 hours for class, hour for set-up, and hour for clean-up) plus lesson planning and preparation time on own

Hours:

• Various times depending on site schedules

Position Location:

• Different community sites throughout the DC Metropolitan area

Impact of this volunteer opportunity:

• Make a real difference in the lives of people at risk of hunger
• Gain teaching experience
• Meet a new and diverse group of people