Volunteer Spotlight: Dina Janzen’s essential role in a complex food recovery network
Dina Janzen’s interest in volunteering with Table to Table was piqued in January 2007 when she first noticed a volunteer picking up food at a donor partner. Now we’re celebrating Dina’s fifteenth year rescuing food with T2T!
Dina is currently one of three T2T volunteer drivers for what we refer to as our “Big Truck” route, picking up surplus warehouse food donations that account for 31% of the food T2T recovers. This food isn’t short-dated and adds variety to our deliveries, including gluten-free, vegetarian, and organic options. Driving our 22-ft straight truck, Dina stops at warehouse donors and loads literally tons of food on pallets directly into our truck quickly and efficiently.
What’s a key part of the volunteer role for Dina? “I absolutely love connecting with the people inside the backdoors of warehouses, stores and food pantries every week,” she says. “I find it fascinating to observe how the complex systems that exist to rescue all this food are constantly adapting. My part of this system is simple, but my role feels essential. A gratifying volunteer job indeed!”
Dina has collected food donations for T2T from warehouses since even before we procured our own big truck. Not too long ago, Dina loaded food donations off of pallets from warehouses by hand into a T2T van until no more would fit. She would then deliver the food to CommUnity Food Bank (then known as the Crisis Center), hand-unload it all, and stack it in their fridge or freezer space. Oh, if only we had the software then to track the amount of food that each of our volunteers rescues; Dina’s numbers would be off the charts!
Dina does what it takes, rain or shine, to make sure we connect great surplus food resources to folks who enjoy the food. We’re so grateful for her and her many years of dedication to our mission and community.
Get to know Dina:
What is one of your favorite food memories?
Baskin Robbins, 1972. Sugar cone with two scoops. Coffee ice cream on top of chocolate mint.
What are your hobbies?
Sewing, mah-jongg, bicycling around town, jigsaw puzzles, yoga, gardening, and searching for the most interesting AirBnbs.
What is your favorite dessert?
Homemade flan.
Join the Team! AmeriCorps Position
AmeriCorps Food Rescue Specialist
Position Summary:
The AmeriCorps Food Rescue Specialist will contribute to the hunger relief efforts in Johnson County by supporting the daily function of the food rescue program and its volunteers in a friendly and fast-paced environment. This person will be part of the team directing volunteers and actualizing smooth pick-up and delivery of food donations, and preparing T2T’s fleet of vehicles for food rescue routes. This position may also participate in the gleaning (harvesting) of excess produce from farms and gardens as well as getting the food to food-insecure individuals via pop-up free produce stands and other efforts with partner agencies. T2T serves as the hub for 60% of the food distributed by Johnson County’s hunger relief network. The best candidate is an energetic team player with strong communication skills who enjoys interacting with people of diverse ages and backgrounds.
Read more about member benefits here.
Table to Table AmeriCorps Food Rescue Specialist 2022-2023
Schedule and Duration: Average 20 hours per week from December 5, 2022 – August 11, 2023
Primarily Monday-Friday mornings from 8AM with some flexibility (especially the first couple weeks of service, if needed to accommodate an academic calendar). Other days and times as needed and agreed upon; will require some evenings in the summer.
Required: Willing to consent to an AmeriCorps background check.
Ability to lift and move 20-40 pounds repeatedly.
Strongly preferred but not required: Over 21 with a valid driver’s license and good driving record.
Supervision Given by: The Food Rescue Specialist is supervised by the T2T Program Manager and is part of a team including the T2T Logistics & Relationships Coordinator.
If you’re interested in this AmeriCorps position, please submit an email of interest and/or a resume (both preferred, if available) to Allison Gnade at Table to Table via email: allison@table2table.org
About AmeriCorps
Being an AmeriCorps member is about making a tangible difference for communities and individuals dealing with some of our nation’s biggest challenges: poverty, inequity, homelessness, and lack of access to education. Summer AmeriCorps members help organizations with activities that work to alleviate the effects of poverty all across the country. As an AmeriCorps member you will serve in a project identified and managed by the community while earning a modest living allowance that reflects the income level of the community where you’re serving.
25-Year Impact Report: A letter from the director
For us to let anyone go without, when food is plentiful, is to say, “You don’t deserve to eat.”
As we wrap up our 25th year, we celebrate how far we’ve come and all that we’ve done together. Let me start our reflection on the past by painting a picture of the present.
Every pound counts…
- In early 2022, 141 million dollars in emergency food assistance was cut from the State of Iowa budget, reducing benefits for every Iowan in the program. Meanwhile the USDA estimates that grocery prices have gone up by 11% in 2022.
- Here on the ground, we’re seeing more neighbors seeking emergency food assistance than at any point in the last three years.
- I recently read an account from a woman in another county who was turned away at her local pantry because she was a SNAP participant and they assumed she shouldn’t need more support. She writes, “I suddenly felt embarrassed and asked if she was sure. Like, hey, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t really need the help.” The common experience is that SNAP helps but is just not enough. Then there are those who don’t qualify for the program at all. We won’t turn away our neighbors.
T2T staff on a glean at Trowel & Error Farm in 2022.
No one should feel embarrassed for trying to feed their family. As a society, we should be ashamed at the lengths our neighbors must go in order to access enough to eat. These folks are resourceful and resilient, prioritizing what little they have in ways that are most effective for their families. To make it work, many sacrifice a number of meals per week. Meanwhile, ever-tightening budgets limit affordability of the most nutritious foods.
…and we’re working harder for every pound
Food rescue organizations across the country have experienced unprecedented fluctuations in food donations.
- Supply chain disruptions and inadequate staffing leave stores with bare shelves and fewer staff to pull food for donation. We must stop at donors more frequently to capture every available donation. More pick-ups mean more coordination, more volunteers, more fuel.
- We have to maintain the capacity to say “yes” to more last-minute donations. Last month we got a call from a truck driver who had 700 pounds of ground beef, ribs, and roasts to offload in the next hour. With our new location and more staff, we readily accepted this valuable donation that we might have had to decline three years ago.
- We’re harvesting directly from farms, working with more processors, and adding many smaller food outlets to our routes. The most requested foods are also the most costly to recover.
What does all this mean? Table to Table is working harder and investing more to capture every pound, and it is well worth the investment. Many of our partners would have to more than double their food purchasing budgets without our daily deliveries.
Your investment in Table to Table these past 25 years has fueled the flexibility and ingenuity of our team and our programs today.
In gratitude,
Nicki Ross
Freeze & preserve your extra food
Winter is coming… but what are you going to do with all that zucchini that needs to be used now? Freezing and preserving your food will ensure you don’t have to throw extra away and you’ll get to enjoy that summer bounty throughout the long, cold winter months – it’s a win-win!
Monthly Topic Overview
You can save food for months – like hitting a “pause” button on it – by freezing or canning, and it just might surprise you how many different types of food can be preserved for long periods of time. Read on for tools to preserve your food safely while retaining as much delicious taste as possible.
Freezing 101
Here’s a few tips to keep in mind when preparing food to freeze:
- Keep food safety in mind. Don’t leave hot food out at room temperature for hours to cool off before freezing it, as this increases risk of foodborne illness. Instead, set the pan of just-cooked hot food in a tray of ice water so it cools down quickly before putting the food in the freezer.
- Package food in portion sizes before freezing. This makes it super easy to take out of the freezer and heat up for a quick meal later!
- Use airtight containers or bags to prevent freezer burn. (Note: freezer burn is harmless; it just makes food not as tasty.) Freezer bags, freezer wrap, aluminum foil, and freezer paper all work well as flexible, airtight containers to maximize your freezer space. Rigid containers work well for certain foods, especially liquids – just make sure you leave about a half-inch gap to allow for liquid expansion while it freezes.
- Label the food you’ve frozen with its contents and date. You can even try making a freezer inventory list. Generally it’s best to use foods within 8-12 months of freezing. Quality deteriorates over time, but as long as the food stays frozen, bacteria and molds don’t form.
When you get that food out of the freezer to use again, the safest ways to thaw it are to place it in the fridge (often overnight), heating it up in the microwave, or placing it in a bowl of cold water. If you use the microwave to thaw food, make sure you use it immediately afterward, since you don’t want it to sit at a temperature where bacteria can grow for long.
What foods can I freeze?
We’re serious: you can freeze almost anything to enjoy later! There’s a few foods that don’t freeze well (lettuce and cabbage become limp and watery, for example), but you may be surprised at just how much you can freeze.
- Flash-freeze fruits and veggies, like berries, or even bacon and bread slices so they don’t freeze in huge chunks. Flash-freezing is easy and fairly quick! Check out this video on how to flash-freeze.
- Frozen fruits (especially bananas) and even zucchini chunks make great smoothie ingredients.
- Freeze extra cheese and milk. Since these products don’t often last long in the fridge, freezing can be a great option to store leftovers if you don’t use these foods up quickly.
- Pro tip: use a muffin tin to freeze stews, chili, etc. in lunch-sized portions.
- Use an ice cube tray to freeze sauces, juices, and condiments. You can even freeze individual cracked eggs in cubes.
- Freeze chicken bones to make stock later.
- Try blanching veggies before freezing to slow vitamin loss and retain better quality.
Quick canning overview
Canning foods is another preservation option. Create jams, jellies, relishes, pickles, salsas, sauces, butters, and more by canning foods!
- Make sure you research how to safely home-can foods before you attempt this method to prevent risk of food-borne illness.
- There are a few different methods of canning foods, including boiling water bath, atmospheric steam canning, or pressure canning method. Research which method you should use for the type of food you are canning.
- This is a great source for more information on safely canning foods at home.
Activity
Learn more about the myriad of foods you can freeze and how to use those frozen foods in this article from the archives. Now do a quick sweep of your fridge and/or countertops. Is anything nearing the end of freshness? What can you transfer to the freezer? If you haven’t before, try some of the methods listed above or in the resources below to freeze your food to retain the most quality.
Other Resources
- Freezing Prepared Foods Guide
- “Save the Food” Freezing Guide
- Canning resources
- Learn how to blanch different types of vegetables
Read more Love Food, Fight Waste topics, brought to you by Table to Table and the City of Iowa City.
Remembering Benny Hawkins, T2T food rescue route volunteer
Benny Hawkins, Sr., a former Table to Table food rescue route volunteer, passed away on August 31 at the age of 91.
Benny Hawkins, beloved T2T volunteer, rescued food on his weekly Wednesday route until the age of 89. Known for his warm conversations and genuine interest in the folks he met, we looked forward to seeing him every week and hearing stories from his decades of travel, sense of humor, and hugs.
Benny began volunteering on his weekly food rescue route in 2016. His longtime route partner, Bryan Clemons, remembers his friendship with Benny fondly:
“It was a pleasure to work with Benny when we were volunteers at T2T. Because we had known each other for years as dental colleagues, we had many things to talk about. We both had served as officers in the U.S. Air Force, and that gave us even more common ground.
I was usually the driver on our food rescue route, and it was easy to get so involved in our conversations that I could miss a turn. Fortunately, Benny was always gracious in redirecting me, and then we enjoyed a good chuckle.
Benny was a man who was kind to everyone he met. He had a great sense of humor and was quick to see the funny side of any situation and flash his wonderful smile. He had definite political opinions and was willing to discuss them if you asked, but he did not try to push his views on you.
Several years ago, Iowa Public Television asked for permission to do a short documentary about the mission of Table to Table. They interviewed Emily [Meister, T2T Program Manager at the time], and she requested that a videographer go on a route to show what happened when food was being rescued. Benny and I were chosen as the team to record. We became ‘immediate IPTV stars,’ and Benny reveled in that ‘honor’ with a twinkle in his eye.
We were both sad to leave T2T when Covid-19 became a problem. However, we continued to see each other and share stories during the Wednesday morning retired dentists’ coffee hour after we had received our vaccinations.
Everyone who knew Benny was fortunate to have Benny call them a friend.”
Executive Director, Nicki Ross, remembers his kindness and welcome when she began in 2017. Shortly after starting she and the program manager were asked to present at a regional food recovery conference, the first big audience for either of them. Benny offered to be an audience of one in run-throughs of the presentation, keeping it light and offering kind and helpful feedback. “When we faced our big audience, it was Benny’s face I pictured. His support made me a better public speaker and presenter of the T2T mission,” Nicki remembers. “He also joined us for every MidwestOne Bank Rock the Chalk – getting down on the pavement to color in the designs or holding and entertaining my 5 month old while we worked. Benny was a gem and we will miss him dearly.”
“Benny epitomized the best of everything as a T2T volunteer and as a human being,” T2T volunteer Steve Gallagher adds. “I’m so glad I became acquainted, however briefly. He had a kind, gentle, warm aura and people loved him. The world lost a beautiful human being in him.”
In the archives
We found Benny’s volunteer spotlight from a few years back:
What’s one of your favorite memories from your time volunteering with Table to Table? Interesting people I have worked with.
Do you volunteer at other area organizations? If so, where? Formerly, Meals on Wheels for four years.
What is/was your occupation? Dentist, Periodontist, Faculty Dental College.
What are your hobbies? I enjoy word puzzles.
What’s a fun fact you’d like to share about yourself? Lived in seven states, including England during my Air Force career.
Where are you from? Originally Chattanooga, Tennessee.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life what would it be? My oatmeal and fruit breakfast.
