Food Recovery Specialist Noah Thomas Reflects on the Dynamic Nature of His Green Iowa AmeriCorps Role
Noah Thomas joined the Table to Table team in June of 2024 as a Summer term Green Iowa AmeriCorps service member. He served as a Food Recovery Support and Training Specialist, becoming the point person for assisting with day-to-day tasks and challenges such as last-minute routes, leading weekly partner pickups, and other various projects to help streamline operations. Noah says of his role, “At T2T, you never know what challenges will pop up. This enabled me to become a more flexible and prepared worker so I could fill the needs of the task at hand.”
Noah is a student at the University of Iowa entering his third year as a triple major in Political Science, Ethics, and International Relations. He came into his service term with a curiosity and passion for the food recovery system and said of his time at Table to Table, “It has been a rewarding and impactful employment experience, more so than any other position I have held.”
Upon completing his service term, Noah took the time to reflect on some of his specific experiences and how his time at Table to Table impacted him.
One of the most memorable experiences was our special Chipotle pickups. A new location for the restaurant opened up in Coralville and they contacted T2T to do 8 special pickups for specific times. The training for their new employees entailed simulating a normal workday, during which they produced a large amount of prepared food that would be wasted if not picked up by T2T. One of the two daily pickups was to be done at 8:30 pm. I took part in 3 of the 4 night pickups with other AmeriCorps members. It was a fun experience to rescue that much food, and our partners were very happy to receive it.
I feel what made serving at T2T so enjoyable was the people. The other AmeriCorps members, T2T staff, our dedicated volunteers, and those from our partner organizations who work so hard to serve the public are all people whom I interacted with daily. All of these people brightened my day in different ways. Knowing that what we were doing was helping the community made it feel like less of a job. It was never something to be dreaded, in fact I consistently looked forward to every day I spent at T2T. I truly think the most challenging aspect of working at T2T will be leaving.
Although his three month term flew by in the blink of an eye, Noah claims his short time at Table to Table sparked a shift in perspective that restored his hope that there are truly good things and good people out there. Because of this he has decided to continue as a volunteer following his service term. Thank you, Noah!
