‘A Seriously Huge Operation’ W&L Campus Kitchen summer interns practice leadership development through community service.
Since its inception 12 years ago, Campus Kitchen at W&L (CKWL) has hired interns every summer. Those students assist with the day-to-day functioning of the organization so that it can efficiently address food insecurity in Rockbridge County.
The organization serves Lexington, Natural Bridge and Buena Vista, recovering and reusing food that otherwise would have been wasted to create balanced meals for low-income members of the community.
The three W&L interns this summer were Rosalie Bull ’20, Robert Moore ’20 and Nathan Brewer ’19. CKWL also has collaborated with other organizations, such as the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty, AmeriCorps and local high schools to engage students from outside the W&L community. This year’s AmeriCorps VISTA intern was Madeline Fuentes ’21, a student at the University of Vermont.
During the academic year, plenty of student leaders and volunteers help with planning, cooking and delivering meals. During the summer, however, these duties are shouldered by a handful of interns. We spent one day this summer shadowing the four interns who worked hard not only to fill hungry bellies, but to spread joy in the local community.
