Our initial mission was to support the restaurant industry hit during the pandemic by crowd-sourcing large meal orders and providing support through marketing and logistics. During this time what inspired us most was seeing how our Kensington residents rallied to engage with us as we supported local businesses.
If you are a regular reader of this column, you can expect us to champion and promote local restaurants. However, this holiday season is the perfect time to revisit the community service aspect of our mission.
Did you know that Kensington is situated in a county where 1 in 4 people experience hunger or food insecurity? Many individuals rely on the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano for emergency and supplemental food. Founded as a non-profit organization in 1975, this organization is dedicated to addressing the basic needs of our neighbors as a member of Feeding America, the largest domestic hunger relief organization in the nation.
Like any non-profit, volunteers are crucial and given the Kensington Eats commitment to our neighbors, we decided to roll up our sleeves and join in. Cole and I participated in a weekend food sorting session where we sorted and packaged over 700 pounds of fruits and vegetables in just two hours. These provisions would go on to be distributed to hungry families later that weekend.
"It was hard work but incredibly rewarding," remarked Cole. "and when you see the amount of perishable food to be distributed, it becomes obvious how much more work needs to be done."
Cultivating a habit of giving back can start at a young age. Krystine Dinh, Director of Marketing for the Food Bank, commented that “teen volunteerism is crucial to our mission, as they help inspire their peers and friends to give back to their communities. Teens like Cole can inspire a whole generation! We’d love to brainstorm ways to increase their level of participation and engagement in their teenage years and beyond.
Volunteers are critically important. They served over 100,000 hours last year - which is equivalent to over half of our staff time. We simply couldn’t help feed our community without them.”
So, how can we encourage more young people to engage in volunteering?
In preparation for the food sorting event, Cole was introduced to MobileServe, an app that simplifies the management and verification of community service hours. Through the mobile interface, he effortlessly verified and logged his 2-hour shift which is now permanently affixed to his profile, thus initiating his (hopefully life-long and rewarding) community service record.
This platform has the potential to motivate more teenagers to get involved with local non-profit organizations. It gamifies the process of accumulating hours and provides a clear record of one's efforts which becomes invaluable when sharing accomplishments with friends, organizations, and schools.
Kensington Eats is planning more community service opportunities catered to youngsters helping them create a MobileServe profile so they can start building out their personalized community service history. Our next event will be on January 6, 2024, at 11 am at the Food Bank’s Warehouse in Concord. To sign up or for more information visit www.kensingtoneats.com or email kensingtoneats@gmail.com.
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