OFS Stands for Community

As a dietetic intern for the St. Louis VA Health Care System, I have had the opportunity to spend a 2 week rotation working with Operation Food Search. Throughout my time at OFS, I had the opportunity to assist/lead 3 Cooking Matters at the Store Tours (CMATS), 2 food pantry demos, and 6 Cooking Matters classes for adults and children. Although I grew up in a suburb of St. Louis, working with OFS allowed me to explore many new places and meet many new faces in my own city. It was great to learn about the diversity and uniqueness that each area has to offer and to connect with the people that make it so beautiful.

If I had to sum up my experience with OFS in one word, it would be community. I have loved the sense of community, both in the office and out in the field. I’ve learned that working for OFS is not your typical 8-5 office job. Everyone who works here is like a family, and their “job” is not just a job for any of them – it is their passion. They truly believe in their mission: “to nourish and educate our neighbors in need to heal the hurt of hunger.” OFS is not just a food distributor; they go the extra step to connect to the community through programs such as Cooking Matters, where participants learn how to prepare healthy, affordable meals with limited resources, or Operation Backpack, where 5,000 kids receive meals for the weekend. I love the idea of being connected to the Operation Food Search community members and everyone using their gifts, talents, and resources in service of others.

One of my favorite experiences with OFS was my first CMATS tour. It was with a group of Congo refugees who recently moved to St. Louis. They told me how crazy it was to have so many options for everything. They described their small markets where you would buy your fresh meat, eggs, fruits, and vegetables. I cannot imagine how overwhelming it would be to try to navigate an American grocery store – so many different brands, varieties, and prices. As we went around the store, we taught them various tips on how to make healthier choices and save money.

My experience with OFS truly has supported the adage: “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for life.” The skills that young and old alike are gaining through the OFS/Cooking Matters programs are invaluable.

While I would love to work in the area of international development/nutrition assistance in the future, working with OFS has shown me first hand that hunger and malnutrition exist right in our own communities. I also learned that poverty and obesity often go hand-in-hand. In a society that has become reliant on processed, convenience foods, it is rewarding to see a child try a kiwi for the first time and find that they might like that better than the bag of chips they were eating. As I continue on with my studies in the area of Public Health, I know that I will take the lessons learned from this experience and continue in the fight against hunger, starting in my own community.

– Lisa Buck, Dietetic Intern