CKP 2007 Conference Blog-O-Rama

Campus Kitchen Planning Session, presented by Maureen Roche

2007-10-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

Sara Kandler, Coordinator, Marquette University

We talked about ways our kitchens can collaborate in regards to fundraising and programming. It was great to brainstorm with another CK. It gave us insight into the way CKGCHS operates and allowed us to throw around a number of different fundraising opportunities. Both of our CKs have a plan for integrating fund cooking and nutrition education into our sites. We were each able to expand upon the basic ideas we had for nutrition education to create programs that will be more fun and active to serve the needs of our clients.

Andrew Super, Gonzaga College High School

We learned from CKs across the country. We learned about a number of potential solutions to some of the issues pertaining to our home kitchens. For example, we explored establishing a nutrition education program. We will take back a targeted plan and agenda for a nutrition education program and a partnership with Marquette.

Melissa Caron, Washington & Lee University

I worked with members of the William and Mary Campus Kitchen to come up with a joint fundraising/awareness campaign. Both of our campuses have great ideas for fundraising and it was helpful to brainstorm. Tow minds were totally better than one! I gained a lot of insight into what has worked for them in fundraising and hope to bring those ideas to my campus. I will take back the plan we developed and plans to remain in contact about future ideas.

Cody Waldman, University of Nebraska at Kearney

By talking with Gonzaga University and Northwestern, we figured out quickly that any promotional campaign for CK will have to unique to each school. The biggest ways we can support one another are by sharing ideas and by keeping each other on task while working towards our goals.

Abby Crick, Northwestern

We discussed challenges, needs and possible solutions at individual campuses. We paired up with a school that has similar needs and discussed possible project ideas. I learned about publicity ideas and what does/does not work at other CKs. Northwestern will make use to the CK logo more and be creative with advertising- use out of the ordinary techniques (e.g. forking the lawn).

Rebecca Teichmann, Coordinator, Gonzaga University

The activity let us brainstorm our challenges and then collaborate with other schools to find solutions. The beautiful things about the CKP Leadership Conference is that like-minds can come together to solve the challenges we all face at one time or another!

Potential Campus Kitchens Planning Session, Presented by Erin Yudchitz

2007-10-29T13:13:00.001-07:00

Don Mowry, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

We went through the application process step by step and developed an initial action plan. The process is much clearer to me and offers of ongoing support is very much appreciated since there will be additional questions. I am taking back energy, enthusiasm, dedication ideas and a plat to put them into place at Eau Claire.

Grant Writing, Presented by Vickie Apel

2007-10-29T13:09:00.002-07:00

Jessica Kim, Coordinator, College of William and Mary

We listened to Vickie talk about her past experience in grant-writing and give us advice about grant-writing, as well as taking advantage of certain development opportunities. I learned:

It’s important to keep grants simple and to follow guidelines to the letter
It’s crucial to contact the program managers at foundations if you have any questions – it’s their job
Development contacts at your institution are pretty much mandatory
30-second elevator speeches are important

When I go back to my Campus Kitchen, I will have more focus on looking for grants in general. I will also make a contact in the development office, because we don’t have one as of yet.

Cassie Sanford, Gettysburg College

We listened to a professional in the grant-writing business. We received valuable materials to take back with us. I learned the basics of grant-writing. We were encouraged to dive into the process which was very important for many of the students who had never written grants. I will take back the inspiration to write a grant, the basic knowledge to get started, and the connection to a person in “the biz.”

Kelsey Schuder, Hamline University

Vickie Apel talked about tips for grant-writing. Some of the tips were extremely interesting. For example, she suggested that for anything you are attempting to get money for, you should write 10 grants. She also stressed the importance of ensuring that every rule and guideline is followed exactly as specified. I’m looking forward to bringing this back to Hamline to try and get start-up funds through a grant.

Tim Frnaco, University of Nebraska at Kearney

I learned about the process of writing effective grants. It was very beneficial for me to understand this process. I learned about writing grants, who to talk to, and how people can help us in more ways than just through grants. I am taking back to UNK information about how to find grants that best suit our needs now and in the future.

Community Collaboration, Presented by AmyJo Lennartson

2007-10-29T13:09:00.001-07:00

Kari Anderson, University of Vermont

AmyJo offered a realistic and humorous outlook on making connections and forming partnerships on campus. We can all relate to her advice of “just picking up the phone.” I will take back valuable advice including the resource of the National Association of Nonprofit Associations (http://ncna.org) and the motivation to make connections on the basis of “raw energy, passion and sincerity.” Our mission at the Campus Kitchen is such a no-brainer that how can anyone really say no?

Kitchen Kids, Presented by Kelly Collins

2007-10-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

Augsburg College Student

We talked about bringing nutrition education to youth. I learned different ways that would be helpful to present the information to students. I will take back to Augsburg different ways to approach the youth along with the older adults my Campus Kitchen is focused on.

Don Mowry, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

Kelly presented her case study of “Kitchen Kids” as a summer or year round project. We also discussed different types of CKP programming and the use and importance of contracts or memorandum of agreement and application and/or interviewing with young students so that problems do not arise down the road (e.g. tardiness). I got great program ideas for summer, interactive and educational programming as well as very specific suggestions for themes, activities and fund raising ideas.

Melissa Caron, Washington & Lee University

Kelly told us about the Kitchen Kids program that Northwestern did this past summer and we were able to ask her specific questions about the program. I learned about possible ways to integrate nutrition programming into a kid friendly program at my own school. It was useful to hear about he inner working of Northwestern’s program and to pick Kelly’s brain about what did and did not work at her school. Kelly gave us great ideas that a flexible for use at other schools. W&L has been very interested in developing a program for kids and it was helpful to hear about how Northwestern made its program work. I hope to bring back some of these ides to develop a program for W&L’s local community.

Jenna Rycek, University of Nebraska at Kearney

Kelly told us about how her university created the Kitchen Kids program. I learned that creating a menu book that the kids added to worked with lectures. It allowed for the kids to take pride in what they were learning and to have the ability to share their knowledge with their parents. Since UNK is in the process of starting to deliver snacks to local after school programs, I would like to give the kids the opportunity to create the snacks themselves, when possible. I would also like to see us include nutritional information and recipes for the kids to take home.

Leadership Team Management and Accountability, Presented by Sara Kandler

2007-10-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

University of Nebraska at Kearney Student

In this session, I learned about possible ways to integrate campus departments into the Campus Kitchen. I learned that possibilities exist to reach out to departments that may be able to set up classes where students serve the Campus Kitchen for the leadership, service and service-learning aspect. I will take back the energy that comes from the idea that departments such as Service Learning and Business Management are two key departments that can have the Campus Kitchen intertwined into their classes.

Megan Boss, Coordinator, University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK)

We learned about how Mankato works with management classes in promoting the Campus Kitchen in the community. I learned a variety of ideas for fund raising and getting out in the community. It stimulated my thinking and inspired my thinking of how the Campus Kitchen at UNK could connect with more departments at UNK.

Don Mowry, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

We discussed and heard how much Mgt. 330 course embeds service learning projects and what a benefit it is to student learning and CKP. I learned about best practices in applied learning in management and group self-assessment tools. I will take back to UW-Eau Claire an idea of using a community leadership course (by a management professor) to incubate CKP on our campus followed by a management course as a way to kick-off and support our Campus Kitchen initially and on an ongoing basis.

Louisa Polos, Coordinator, Gettysburg College

Sara led a discussion on the challenges of managing/working with a leadership team. The three challenges she focused on include: motivation, directing energy and accountability. We also discussed goal setting, intranet resources and other leader’s experiences. I learned to engage our leadership team in the CK through their interests and passions; by doing this the LT members have projects and responsibilities that benefit the kitchen but also pertain to their interests. If they are in charge of a project, program or shift they are automatically accountable and begin to take ownership of their success. I will take Sara’s ideas for goal setting, motivating leadership team members, and directing LT member’s interests back to Gettysburg. I will also take her advice on referring to the CKP Intranet as much as possible, but also using the CKP network to look for advice.

Advocacy Corp, Presented by Maureen Roche

2007-10-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

University of Nebraska at Kearney Student

In this session, we talked about ways to collaborate with agencies within our communities and organizations on our campus. I learned that it’s important to:

Be prepared with information, cards and ways that potential partners can help you and ways you can help them
Always try at least twice
Learn about the organizations in your community and on your campus
Try all organizations

I will take a better attitude back to my Campus Kitchen, knowing that some organizations that seem hesitant or ones that we question their ability to help, may lead to great, unique collaborations that can benefit the Campus Kitchen.

University of Nebraska at Kearney Student

The session highlighted the different ways that CKP can advocate – getting the word out about our organization, bills and laws. We also talked about what not to do and how to approach lawmakers. Taking ideas of awareness back to campus and how to change laws in Nebraska (especially laws affecting people getting government services). Nebraska law requires people receiving governmental help attend learning sessions during the day which last 2-3 hours. The problem is that they have to miss work or skip the learning session and loose their assistance.

Veronica, Marquette University

We discussed “what is advocacy” and learned basic skills about how to advocate appropriately. Then we practices what we learned with the Feeding America’s Families Act of 2007 as an example. I learned what advocacy is and the difference between advocacy and lobbying. I also learned what I can do and how I can make a difference by advocating. I will bring back advocacy skills to use if an issue arises as well also the best ways to contact people by using advocacy.

Hunger 201, Presented by Rebecca Teichmann

2007-10-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

Megan Boss, Coordinator, University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK)

This is a poverty and social awareness activity where participants were able to move through the class system. People got angry about not being able to advance into a different social class and viewed the upper-classes as "evil" even though the upper-class was trying to help them advance (I was in an upper-class). The activity portrayed real feelings and issues associated with poverty and hunger. It may be possible to implement a similar activity at UNK to make students more aware of the social classes in the United States.

Engaging the High School Population, Presented by Gonzaga College High School

2007-10-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Amanda Woodard, Gonzaga University

Seeing how a Campus Kitchen works on a high school campus compared to a university campus was wonderful to see! It’s so neat that we have the Campus Kitchen at Gonzaga College High School in the CKP network, and we’re excited to engage more high school students at our Campus Kitchen at Gonzaga University.

Kelly Collins, Coordinator, Northwestern

The PowerPoint presentation was about the Campus Kitchen at Gonzaga College High School (GCHS) and what works for high schools. It was great to get a point of view from high school volunteers as we look to recruit them and also work on expansion into high schools. I found out about the program at GCHS, how to find volunteers who are really involved in their high school and raise program awareness, and how to recruit those volunteers. I will take back to Northwestern:

How to campaign and recruit volunteers – use catchy & interactive fliers/advertising
Rueb’s Rules for fliers/pamphlets- contain important info, catchy saying, quick and easy to read (we got a great example)
This is useful to know as well look to start Campus Kitchens at other high schools

The Leadership Compass, Presented by City Year

2007-10-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

Louisa Polos, Coordinator, Gettysburg College

In this workshop we worked with City Year to identify many of our leadership techniques. We also discussed how to work well with others who may have other leadership styles. I learned a lot about my current leadership skills as well as ways to work with others on projects. It was eye opening to see my strengths and recognize areas of leadership where I can improve my skills. I will take away an understanding that different people have different leadership techniques/styles and that I must be prepared to be flexible in certain situations. I also now know that I need people with contrasting leadership styles to have a holistic leadership approach and to be sure to consider all aspects of a project.

Rebecca Teichmann, Coordinator, Gonzaga University

The basic idea of the session was to determine our individual leadership styles and how to build the style in which we are the weakest. We also discussed how to work with styles different from our own (which may or may not conflict with our own). This activity was very beneficial in my opinion, because it helped me recognize my own leadership style as well as those of my co-workers. I am so glad to have had the opportunity to get to know the CKP staff on such a personal level, which I believe will increase our efficiency and productivity when we return to our own Campus Kitchen!

Sara Kandler, Coordinator, Marquette University

We discussed the 4 different leadership styles and associated ourselves with a dominant style. Our groups discussed the pros and cons as well as stereotypes connected with each of our styles. We also were able to talk between groups about the difficulties we face when styles clash. It was a fantastic experience that was an eye-opener for so many of the participants! We had interesting and productive discussions that could have continued much longer if there was time. I have participated in numerous leadership style workshops in the past, but this was much different from previous experiences! The approach taken by the Leadership Compass brought new perspective to leadership by not only helping each of us identify our styles, but also by helping us learn how to work with other styles. The activity also gave us the opportunity to collaborate solely with people of the same style. Through this activity we were able to see just how our style comes into play in our work. We were also able to identify tips to pass along to the other styles about how to effectively work with us.

CKP Cooking and Delivery Shifts

2007-10-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Tiffany Chung, Washington University in St. Louis

We prepared meals for the deliveries for the Campus Kitchen at Augsburg College. I was on the team which delivered to the Brian Coyle Community Center. It was really interesting to meet and speak with the Somali refugees who go to the Center. It was an amazing experience to see how hunger can affect so many people. The Augsburg Student Leadership Team had great cooking tips and wonderful advice on how to build community partnerships. It was wonderful to learn about all the creative ways individual Campus Kitchens solve their problems and the larger problem of food insecurity.