Summer Scholar serves as a farm intern with the Food Bank of Delaware
Photo courtesy of Delia Quinn
When Delia Quinn saw that the Food Bank of Delaware was looking for a summer farm intern at its Newark location, she was curious.
“I didn’t know that the Food Bank had a farm,” said Quinn. “I volunteered [with the Food Bank] before, and I’ve done the Mobile Food Bank, but I had no idea about the farm.”
Quinn, a senior Global Studies major with minors in anthropology, Spanish and resource economics, was drawn to the position because she believes in the Food Bank’s mission.
“I’m passionate about creating more access to healthy and nutritious food for people who are facing hunger, who are food insecure or live in food deserts,” she said.
Quinn worked throughout the summer on the Food Bank’s five-acre farm, consisting of several greenhouses and open air fields, under the direction of Kyle Brolis, agricultural programs director, and John O’Connor, community farm manager.
“Our site is focused on growing as many fresh fruits and vegetables for the Food Bank throughout the year as possible,” said Brolis. “During the summertime, we need even more help as that production scales up.”
Summer interns were trained on each new job to be “effective and efficient” said Quinn.
Though the farm is small, it produced 16,000 pounds of fresh produce last year. Some of that produce is used in the Food Bank’s cafe and some has been sold at a local farmers market, but the majority goes into the hands of Food Bank clients.
“It gave me a new appreciation for people who work outdoors, who work with their hands and who do physical labor all day long,” she said. “Those types of jobs aren’t as valued or appreciated in our society.”
While the work was hard, Quinn said that it was also a respite from the demands of a world of fractured focus.
“It was so peaceful, being outside, even in the heat, feeling the sun and knowing that this is my job for the day, this is what I get to do right now,” she said. “I got to turn my brain off a little bit.”
Quinn, who also works as a restaurant server, said that her time on the farm has changed how she views food waste.
“When I’m serving and busing the table, and I see all of the food that was not eaten, especially the vegetables, it pains me so much more now,” she said. “Because I know all of the time and effort, the labor, the resources that go into growing [that] vegetable.”
The experience also fed her understanding of the intersection of food production and health.
“I’m more aware of how important healthy food is in fighting chronic diseases like the ones that are so prevalent in the United States,” she said. “Especially the ones that affect people who are food insecure.”
While Quinn sometimes feels “helpless and hopeless” about big, societal issues, she believes that local actions will “contribute to mending bigger problems.”
“Communities and the people connecting together, that’s how we’re going to fix these issues,” she said. “Volunteering and getting involved is so important, especially for places like the farm.”