Senior Project May 22

 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 easier and more conducive to less waste to do a big shop at the beginning of the week for staples, and then shop daily for produce and any ingredients we may still need. This has been a lot easier and we have not had to waste any food. 

This week we also learned a lot about Narcan and its importance in the community. We met with Jess from Safe Recovery in Burlington and she taught us how to administer Narcan and its importance. Narcan is a life-saving medication that comes in both nasal spray and injections. Narcan is one of the few drugs that has no negative effect on someone's health if used incorrectly. For example, if it is used on an unconscious person of any age, with any underlying medical conditions who is not overdosing there will be no negative effect. But for someone who is experiencing an overdose, this can provide a 30-90 minute window of time to get them to the hosptital and save their life. 

This past week we have also seen firsthand the struggles of youth in this community. From housing, mental health struggles, and employment to the necessities like food, nothing is ever concrete for these youth. We have watched as employees of Spectrum meet individually with youth to provide counseling and help to search for jobs and housing. The impact Spectrum is able to make on people aged 15-25 is truly unbelievable. Mainly donation-based Spectrum is able to offer the most guidance through counseling, housing, and meals. 

It was so interesting to watch and learn from the women who are working at Spectrum these few weeks. With a job that is constantly changing and evolving as new youth come in. As we’ve gotten better at cooking and more into a routine in the serving kitchen, we have been able to spend more time getting to know the youth, listening to music, doing art,  and playing games while we are there in the evenings. We have achieved all of our goals and more these weeks, by having more than enough money for groceries and enough to leave a donation for Spectrum to use in their gardens, with their food, and on field trips to local farms. We have become way better at cooking for large groups and found it not as difficult as we originally thought!