My first experience at the WIC nutrition office was really to get the idea of what was expected in our job. I met Bonnie Cunningham a fellow intern with Ogallala Commons and we were under the guidance of two local producers in our area that sell weekly at the Golden Spread Farmers market. Denise and Tom have been selling produce in our area for over 20 years and this is the second year that the farmers market has been provided to WIC participants. Within the first two days, we were able to communicate with our fellow employees and see the services provided by the state of Texas that encourage healthy living choices. We were able to represent our local farmers that the produce we provided were all grown locally and that by using their vouchers, they helped support the farmers in our area. As a fellow grower, I was able to connect to more farmers and get more of an idea of what service they had been providing in my own back yard.
Our main goal was to walk each individual down an aisle and see what produce they were interested in and encourage eating produce that they would not normally try. We were able to suggest different recipes for vegetables and also encourage their children to select different produce that they might not normally eat. So within the first few days of our experience, every customer was leaving with a smile on their face and a future belly of food in everyone’s stomach.
