By Adrienne Markworth
…trying new things.” A resident at Valencia Gardens, our new programming site in San Francisco’s Mission District, said this to me last week during an outreach visit. She, along with all of the VG residents we talked to, was so excited to take advantage of the cooking and nutrition information we’ll be offering there all summer.
I love her enthusiasm—and it has helped inspire me to do new things too. I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking further ahead than next week (which is a challenge, believe me!) and it’s a difficult exercise to imagine where Leah’s Pantry will be next year at this time, or in three years from now.
But, as someone who’s been here since the beginning, it’s a wonderful feeling to believe that Leah’s Pantry WILL be here in a year from now and three years from now. We are running 13 workshops this summer, from San Diego to San Rafael, and I see no reason why our growth won’t continue to skyrocket. We’re meeting a need for nutrition education, and our hope is that the way we approach the topic is effective in empowering people to make changes. Otherwise, who cares?
So, we’ll be trying some new things this summer regarding our assessment—how do we measure our impact?? What, exactly, are we measuring? These are the things we’re thinking about… and trying new things is our first step.
Happy Summer!
