Campus Kitchen Recognized with 2019 Silver “Turnip the Beet” Award
The Office of Civic & Community Engagement is proud to announce that the Campus Kitchen at Wake Forest University has been recognized for its Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) with a Silver “Turnip the Beet” award by the North Carolina Department of Summer Instruction, Summer Nutrition Team. A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant funds Campus Kitchen’s summer meal program, which extends free meals to children who receive free and reduced-price school lunch during the academic year.
“Turnip the Beet” showcases summer nutrition programs in North Carolina that have gone above and beyond to ensure nutritious and appealing summer meals for children. Summer meal programs like SFSP, present the opportunity to help alleviate summertime food insecurity and positively impact children’s growth and development by offering nutritious meals and encouraging children to develop healthy habits at a young age.
“Being awarded a silver ‘Turnip The Beet’ shows that this concept has value in our community,” explained Brad Shugoll, Associate Director of Service & Leadership and the Campus Kitchen site supervisor for the SFSP. “Thanks to our model with Campus Kitchen, we’re able to leverage the resources available, working with college students and community partners to help create as high a quality meal as possible. It recognizes that we’re able to go beyond the standard, and not just provide food, but highly nutritious food that kids want to eat.”
The Campus Kitchen at Wake Forest received this acknowledgment due to its efforts with the University’s summer learning program, Freedom School, and by partnering with The Love Church, We Rock Summer Camp. Over the span of eight weeks Shugoll and his staff of three college students, through a summer internship with The Campus Kitchen, provided 5,258 healthy meals, including breakfasts and lunches to Freedom School and We Rock participants. Each of these efforts helped to make a positive impact on the growth and development of Winston-Salem children over the summer months.
The announcement marks the second consecutive year that Campus Kitchen has been recognized with a Silver “Turnip The Beet” award for its SFSP. Previously, Campus Kitchen won a bronze Turnip the Beet Award for its 2017 summer meal program serving Freedom School.