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Sarah Heim, VISTA, University of Vermont Campus Kitchens Coordinator

Sarah Heim is returning for her second VISTA year to continue her work as the Campus Kitchens Coordinator at the University of Vermont.

Campus Kitchens is a student-run nonprofit that works with dining services to salvage otherwise unused food. The food is then turned into a meal that is distributed to members of the community. The Campus Kitchen at UVM (CK UVM) serves a weekly meal at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf from donations by University Dining Services, local farms and the Intervale Center's gleaning project. Student volunteers and interns also help to facilitate nutrition education classes at local nonprofit organizations.

Sarah's work with CK UVM has "opened her eyes" to the many causes and implications of food security and sustainability. Within Burlington, there are various nonprofit and government agencies committed to fighting food insecurity and ensuring that each family has access to a healthy array of foods year-round. Despite these best efforts, food sustainability remains a largely systemic problem that needs to be addressed at both the local and national level.

Americans tend to produce more food than we can consume, and yet fail to provide the support necessary to keep food local and to support a sustainable agricultural system. In the coming year, Sarah plans to encourage her students to take the next step into advocacy work and begin to examine the issue of food security on a larger scale. She says, "I hope they continue their efforts to effect change at the local level through their weekly meals and nutrition classes, but that they also choose to engage in advocacy efforts that could help to bring about change on a state or even national level."