To tackle hunger, Extension agents have the knowledge and the networks

As hunger-relief organizations cope with rising demand, organization and coordination is key.

Faith Dickerson, director of the Culpeper Food Closet, is racing to keep up with the surging demand for food in her community — and she knows where to turn for help: Lenah Nguyen, a Virginia Cooperative Extension family and consumer sciences agent in Culpeper County.

Nguyen’s role as an Extension agent gives her a broad perspective on her county’s needs and resources. She and her colleagues support farmers as they produce safe, healthy foods, and help small businesses that create value-added food products. 

In her role as a family and consumer sciences agent, Nguyen also assists hunger-relief organizations, giving her a comprehensive, bird’s-eye view of the local food system.

Nguyen is uniquely situated to identify problems and implement real-world solutions.

One such problem is the glut of seasonal produce food pantries receive at certain times of the year. Without a coordinated effort to process and distribute this surplus, it will go to waste.

“Food pantries often receive large donations of vegetables or meat, but their clients are not likely to consume these foods without additional processing and education,” said Nguyen. “For example, it’s really hard for someone who is living in a hotel, who doesn’t have access to a kitchen, to do anything with a butternut squash.” 

With a little planning and coordination, though, that produce can be turned into ready-to-eat meals and distributed to local food pantries.

Nguyen and her team use the commercial kitchen at the Carver Center to turn excess produce into meals for approximately five-hundred people at a time. This means a lot of chopping, peeling, and cooking — labor contributed by volunteers or participants in Extension training programs.

The meals prepared at Nguyen’s events are then distributed to local food pantries, which provide them to clients in need. 

“Food pantries might also get a donation of something unusual their clients aren’t likely to take without additional education,” said Nguyen, who described a recent call from a local organization that received 1,000 pounds of bagged chicken.

 “As our staff capacity increases, we can send someone out to do an educational demo at the food pantry, maybe take an example dish for people to taste,” said Nguyen. “If we provide their clients with ideas to prepare the food, we can prevent it from being wasted.”

Piedmont Action Coalition on Hunger

Nguyen’s efforts to reduce food waste and support local food pantries caught the attention of the Piedmont Action Coalition on Hunger — a network of food insecurity organizations and farmers. Nguyen joined the organization in her role as Extension agent and currently serves as chair.

“Lenah’s work in our community is really impactful,” said Faith Dickerson, director of the Culpeper Food Closet and a member of the coalition. “She has so many connections to outside organizations and so much knowledge. She brings in speakers and is helping us get training in different areas of food security that we would have never had access to otherwise.” 

The goal of the coalition is coordination.

"We need to find ways for food pantries to coordinate their efforts,” Nguyen explained. “Usually, food pantries are staffed by volunteers who don’t have the capacity to do county- or region-wide coordination. Together, we can pool our efforts and plug in to new resources in the community.”

For example, if a small business has excess food to donate, they might struggle to locate an organization that is nearby and available to collect the food on short notice. But a coordinated effort among food pantries can respond more quickly than a single organization alone. A volunteer from one organization may be able to pick up the food and transport it to a different organization that is ready to process and distribute it.

Farmers face similar challenges. They may have fields of excess produce but lack the infrastructure or connections to get it where it’s needed most.

“Lenah knows all the local farmers,” said Dickerson. “She can connect us with them because she sees both sides — the agriculture and the food insecurity side. That knowledge of the network of local farmers is something that only an Extension agent can provide.”

When a local producer recently had an excess of tomatoes, Lenah and her colleagues at the Carver Center were able to coordinate receipt of the produce, which was then processed into servings of tomato sauce at one of Nguyen’s educational workshops.

By working with local producers and building capacity for large distribution efforts, food that would have otherwise been sent to feed livestock is turned into healthy meals for those in need.

Coordination Matters More Than Ever 

“Based on a spot check, we realized that the food pantries in our area would need to increase the servings of fruits and vegetables many times over to meet USDA’s dietary guidelines,” Nguyen noted. “We were shocked that, even with all the fresh produce that is donated by local farms, we are still so far off.”

“For too long, nonprofits tended to be very isolated from one another,” said Dickerson. “The demand for our services is now so great that we are beyond working individually. We need to build collaborative partnerships and to learn from one another.”

Nguyen agrees. “Right now, a lot of food pantries are seeing increased demand at the same time they have decreased food,” she said. “We can do so much more if we are able to coordinate and work together.”

About us: Virginia Cooperative Extension was established in 1914 and is a partnership between Virginia’s two land grant universities: Virginia Tech and Virginia State University. Today, Extension operates out of 107 offices, 11 Agricultural Research and Extension Centers, and six 4-H centers across the commonwealth. Our agents, specialists, and volunteers work to assist farmers, empower youth, guide responsible resource management, and advance the wellbeing of all Virginians.