Lucy's Senior Project

 Monday May 23, 9:45 PM Today was our last day at Spectrum. Per request we made tacos, so we spent the morning prepping veggies. We brought in all the toppings and set them out in the kitchen to walk through individually with people so they could decide what they want. Today, we also brought in all of our leftover spices, produce, and any excess transport containers for Spectrum to use in the future. After raising money for this project one of my biggest concerns is that we would not have enough to provide the amount and type of food we wanted. Now, it is our last day we have enough leftover money to give a donation to Spectrum. It was such a great experience to help these kids and provide meals these past few weeks.  Time Spent Today- 7 hours  Total Project Time- 76 hours 

 Sunday May 23 On the weekends we do not make meals for Spectrum. On Sunday we usually do prep for the week and decide what we are making. Today we went to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients for the tacos that the youth requested for our last meal. We also decided to make a cake for Monday so we will have less to do. We made a vanilla cake with vanilla icing and strawberries. The cake fell into a lot of pieces when we were transferring it but after a lot of icing and berries it turned out pretty well!  Time Spent Today- 4 hours Total project time- 69 hours 

 Sunday May 22, 12:15   Week Two Reflection  Spectrum  This past week we have learned a lot about food and what it means to serve an at-risk community. Throughout the past week, we have made non-vegan meals instead of strictly vegan ones and started making lots of desserts. I learned how to cook with meat, which I have previously never really done, especially in this capacity. Cooking meat is a beneficial skill to take with me moving forward. We also have learned that we do not need to make quite as much food. Spending time in Spectrum and serving food we decided there are always a lot of leftovers, which is good except in large quantities which are creating a lot of food waste. Food waste is another thing we have learned a lot about throughout these past weeks. Shopping in large quantities for the week is stressful because you have to manage your produce to make sure you have enough, and so it does not go bad. During our second week we decided it would be easie...

 Friday May 20, 7:55 PM This morning we went to the grocery store to get fresh ingredients. We decided it's easier and eliminates more food waste to grocery shop daily. We bought onions, basil, heavy cream, and bread to make creamy tomato pasta with garlic bread. We came back, prepped our food, and started to combine the variety of different kinds of pasta we had leftover. After we cooked the pasta and tomato sauce we added parmesan and basil to the top. We cut the baguettes in half and poured butter, olive oil, and garlic onto the top, and cooked them as well. We took it to Spectrum, heated it up and served it. It was a slow night so we got to talk to a lot of people and got some requests for our final meal on Monday!  Total Time Spent Today- 7 hours  Total Project Time- 65 Hours 

 Thursday May 19, 6:30 PM  This morning we went grocery shopping to get a few fresh ingredients for our meal. Today, we made vegan chili Mac, although we don't have to cook exclusively vegan we had all the ingredients and decided to use them. This recipe included Tempah which is a vegan meat substitute I have never used before. We were skeptical at first but once it was incorporated into the meal it was pretty good! We got a request for cookies yesterday, so today we made brownies with cookie dough and Oreos. As well as a cumin bean salad with black beans and chickpeas. We took it to Spectrum, heated it up, and served dinner. It was a pretty slow night due to the rain in Burlington so we played an intense game of headbands with the youth as we waited for people to trickle in for dinner. After everyone had eaten, we cleaned up and it was time to go.  Total Time Spent Today- 7 hours Total Project Time- 58 hours 

 Tuesday May 18 10:30 PM  This morning we made vegetable stirfry with crispy chicken, arugula salad, and brownies. We worked chopping vegetables and prepping food until 10:30 when we had to leave for a meeting with Jess from safe recovery. Safe Recovery is an organization in Burlington that helps to educate and protect members of the community. By offering Narcan, fentanyl testing strips, and medical assistance they are lowering the number of overdoses in the community. During our meeting with Jess, we learned how to administer Narcan, when it is applicable to use it, and the stigma surrounding Narcan. We learned that Narcan is not harmful to anyone even someone who is not overdosing. While we were talking, Jess said “You could give it to a 5-year-old who bumped their head, or an 80-year-old man who was having a heartache. By capping off the opioid receptors in the brain Narcan is able to stop an overdose for 30-90 minutes before help can arrive. After our meeting, we came ho...

 Tuesday May 17  Today we made chicken enchiladas with a bean and arugula salad. We started cooking this morning around 8:45 and it was the first time we had cooked meat! I have never cooked with chicken before, it was a good thing to learn, and tasted pretty good! After that, we went to Spectrum, served dinner, and hang out for a while talking with people. It was a pretty intense day, which lead us to talk with the staff about the way in which they handle these situations and debrief. We learned a lot about Spectrum as an organization and the reason they get to provide a case-to-case protocol for certain situations and youth. Spectrum is funded solely through donations so they do not have to follow the same rules and regulations as state-funded corporations. This provides a much more welcoming environment, in which they are able to help counsel the youth.  Time Spent Today- 7 hours  Total Project Time- 43 hours 

Monday May 16 This morning started with picking up pots and pans we left at Spectrum to get cleaned. They have a sanitation machine so we can be sure everything is fully cleaned and ready to use again. We learned the degrees of sanitation and what it should be in a commercial kitchen setting and the temperature at which it needs to be run which is 180 degrees! After that, we went grocery shopping working around the essentials that we had leftover like cans of beans and tomatoes. We even bought some chicken now that we are not cooking exclusively vegan meals. When we arrived home we made bean salad with cumin and chickpeas. We also made some trays of brownies so we can bring dessert tomorrow.  Time Spent today- 4 ½  Total Project Time- 36 hours 

 Weekly Reflection Sunday May 15  Lucy Short  Senior Project Week #1 Reflection  This week working with Spectrum Youth and Family Services went really well! We started with prep for the week on Sunday and cooked meals Monday through Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, we had meals donated, so we did not have to cook. Throughout the week, we have learned a lot about Spectrum Youth and Family Services, who they provide services to, and what those services are. We have also learned a lot about cooking for large groups of people, which I have never done before. We learned what comes along with that and how difficult it can be to buy ingredients and adjust recipes to make large quantities. With random donations on those days, we learned how to deal with food waste and how to reuse certain ingredients in other recipes. This week we cooked all vegan meals because we were under the impression that a lot of the youth were vegan. But once we got there we became aware that many ...

 Friday May 13  Today we did not have to make a meal for Spectrum. They had a food donation from a local restaurant. Instead, we started looking into Narcan and the role it plays in the local community, especially with youth. As we saw it was a large need in the community, we set up a meeting with someone who works with safe recovery in Burlington. Safe recovery focuses on not stopping the use of drugs because it is not realistic They focus on how to make safe spaces and execute drug use safely through testing strips, Narcan, and safe spaces to detox. We will add Narcan awareness as part of our project and continue to research and create a learning platform.  Time spent today- 4 hours  Total Project time- 31 ½ hours 

 Thursday May 12 Today, we did not have to make a meal for Spectrum because they had enough leftovers for the day. So instead we spent the morning dividing up and sharing our food that would go bad before our next meal. After that we took some time looking at what ingredients we still had leftover to make meals for next week and what we needed buy. Then with those lists we started looking at new recipes. After this week, we have learned that not as many of the youth are vegan so we can start incorporating meat and dairy into our meals. We also fixed our fridge and moved all of our things back for easy access!  Time Spent today- 4 Hours  Total Project Time- 27 ½ hours 

 Wednesday May 11, 8:00 PM This morning when we were prepping to begin cooking for the day we realized that our fridge was not working, so we had to spend some time transferring our ingredients. By the time we were done, about 30 minutes had passed and we began prepping for our meal which was vegan Moroccan chickpea stew with a garden salad. We were cooking from 9:00 AM to 1:00 and cleaning until around 2 PM. After lunch, we began to pack up the car at 3:30 and head to Spectrum where we helped distribute food donations, reheat meals, talk to the youth, serve dinner, and clean up the kitchen space. Once we were done at Spectrum it was 6 PM and time to head home! There is enough leftover food from today, that instead of making another meal we will be prepping for next week and making a new menu.  Time spent today- 7 hours  Total project time- 23 ½ hours 

 May 10, 8:45 PM This morning at 8:30 AM we went to a local farm to get salad greens. When we got there we bought six pounds of greens which should last us until the end of the week. When we got back we started prep work to make vegan stirfry around 9:45 AM. After cutting up all our ingredients we began cooking at 11:45 and finished around 12:45 for lunch. After lunch, we packed up our food and took it to spectrum, for a 4:00PM delivery. Once we got there we packaged up the food into individual serving sizes, washed dishes, and put away extra food. Then for about an hour we hung around the community space and go to know some of the youth we are serving.  Time Spent today- 6 Hours  Total Project time- 16 1/2 hours

  Monday May 9, 2022  This Morning we started prep work at 9:00 AM. We started by measuring all of our ingredients out and chopping things up. Today we made vegan lentil bolognese and finished around 12:30 PM. At 3:00 we cooked the pasta for our meal and loaded everything into the car to take it to Spectrum Youth and Family Services, where we met our mentors and the people we will be working with for the next few weeks. Once we were there we heated up the meal and served it into individual to-go boxes, until 5:00 PM. After that, we ran our pans through the commercial dishwasher that they have and headed home. Tonight we will verify our menu for the week and send it in, so people can see what Spectrum will be serving for the upcoming week.  Time Spent Today- 5 ½ hours  Total Project time- 10 ½ hours 

Sunday May 8, 2022  9:00 PM Today we started our project with planning and prep for the upcoming week. When we woke up this morning we picked five vegan meals, which we will make this week. After we decided on meals we wrote down the ingredients and then converted the serving sizes to feed thirty people. After we made our list we went to Costco and then to Shaw’s to get all our groceries for the week! Our planning this morning took two hours and our shopping took three hours, for a total of five hours today. Once we unpacked all the groceries we subtracted the money spent today from the total we raised in the past few weeks, leaving us with plenty of money for next week's grocery shop. Tomorrow we plan on visiting a local farm and getting greens to make big salads for the upcoming week.  Time Spent Today- 5 hours