Seeking volunteers to assist our Cooking Facilitators with cooking and nutrition education classes.
About Adult Family Education
Community Food Education’s Adult Family Education offers cooking and nutrition classes focused on maximizing food resources to community members in low-income areas. We provide hands-on education, combining cooking, nutrition, menu planning, budgeting, kitchen safety, and sanitation.
Each class is supported by volunteer Class Assistants who work alongside a staff coordinator to facilitate fun, lively, and informative classes for participants. Volunteers work with the participants on educational activities and preparing a shared meal. Classes are held at community organizations, public and transitional housing sites, schools, and other service-providing agencies throughout Seattle and King County.
Cooking and Nutrition Class Assistant
Volunteer class assistants help instructors and facilitators with classroom setup, food preparation, class activities, and cleanup. Other duties may include packing groceries for participants to take home, unloading and loading kitchen equipment, and washing dishes. Volunteers with an interest in cooking and/or nutrition are encouraged to apply for this position.
Time Commitment
Classes meet once a week for three to six weeks. Each week the classes require a time commitment of 1-1.5 hours plus 30 minutes of prep time and 15 minutes of cleanup. All together for one course series, you will commit about 8-16 hours of volunteer time, in addition to any lesson planning and prep. Additionally, we often have one-time cooking classes that you’ll be able to sign up for. We’re looking for volunteers who are interested and able to commit to actively volunteering in classes for one year.
Training
Once you attend the Solid Ground New Volunteer Orientation and complete the volunteer application process, please obtain your Food Worker Card. After the orientation, you will be able to sign up for any open volunteer class positions. Once you sign up, staff will schedule a brief (15 minutes) phone call with you to chat about the position and what to expect when volunteering.
Qualifications
- Interest in food justice/food security, cooking, nutrition education
- Ability to work with staff, volunteers, and participants with a variety of racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, lifestyles, and sexual orientations
- Ability to be nonjudgmental, positive, respectful, creative, consistent, and flexible
- Willingness to work both as part of a team and independently
Scroll down to apply & view upcoming volunteer orientations.
BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color), and people with the lived experience of food insecurity are strongly encouraged to apply. This opportunity also qualifies as an RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) activity.
Solid Ground believes poverty is solvable.
Volunteers play a critical role in helping us meet basic needs, nurture success, and promote change – so everyone in our community can achieve their full potential.