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St. Mary’s Nutrition Center
Service member Sumaya Sheikh passes out an apple taste test in a Lewiston public school

St. Mary’s Nutrition Center

St. Mary’s Nutrition Center is seeking 2 Food Education Service Members for the 2024-2025 term.

Lewiston, an old mill town along the Androscoggin River, serves as an urban hub and gateway into rural Western Maine. While Lewiston is one of the largest cities in Maine, it is still small enough that it is possible for grassroots efforts to instigate change and then witness the change in action. Lewiston has deep Franco-American roots and is home to several annual festivals including a balloon festival and an acclaimed modern dance festival at Bates College each summer. It is equidistant from the ocean and the Western Maine mountains. Lewiston has seen a significant demographic transformation in the last fifteen years, with the arrival of ~5,000 Somali, Somali Bantu and Central African immigrants and refugees. This community has expanded the cultural diversity of the city, which is now home to nearly a dozen Halal stores and ethnic restaurants.

Sitting in the midst of Lewiston, Maine’s most diverse and economically challenged neighborhoods, the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center serves families, youth, adults, elders, and refugees who range from age 3 to over 70 and come from many diverse backgrounds. The Nutrition Center promotes community health through organizing, advocacy, and education. The long term goal of the Nutrition Center is to build a viable food system while supporting local leaders, strengthening community ties, and engaging youth as agents of change.

The service member at St. Mary’s would work with area public schools to increase hands-on learning about healthy food and work with nutrition services to increase culturally relevant school meals. When you serve in Maine, you are joining a family of 12 Service members serving all across the state. We connect both virtually and in person, spend time together and learn, and enjoy all the natural beauty and excellent food culture Maine has to offer. No matter where you are, you have the support of the cohort and FoodCorps Maine staff, Malia and Ryan, who both grew up in Maine and love sharing all that is great about this state with service members who we hope will put down roots here and continue to be an important part of Maine.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience working with a wide range of groups of people, especially children, that could include people living in poverty, recent immigrants and refugees, people with developmental disabilities, people in recovery, and people dealing with trauma and insecurity in diverse realms of their live
  • Experience with collaborative work and commitment to building strong partnerships
  • Ability to develop trusting and respectful relationships with people of various ages, races, faiths, cultures, sexual orientations and class backgrounds
  • Highly organized, punctual and able to handle multiple responsibilities
  • Self-motivated, flexible, and able to work independently and as an effective team player

St. Mary’s Nutrition Center is seeking 2 Food Education Service Members for the 2024-2025 term.

Lewiston, an old mill town along the Androscoggin River, serves as an urban hub and gateway into rural Western Maine. While Lewiston is one of the largest cities in Maine, it is still small enough that it is possible for grassroots efforts to instigate change and then witness the change in action. Lewiston has deep Franco-American roots and is home to several annual festivals including a balloon festival and an acclaimed modern dance festival at Bates College each summer. It is equidistant from the ocean and the Western Maine mountains. Lewiston has seen a significant demographic transformation in the last fifteen years, with the arrival of ~5,000 Somali, Somali Bantu and Central African immigrants and refugees. This community has expanded the cultural diversity of the city, which is now home to nearly a dozen Halal stores and ethnic restaurants.

Sitting in the midst of Lewiston, Maine’s most diverse and economically challenged neighborhoods, the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center serves families, youth, adults, elders, and refugees who range from age 3 to over 70 and come from many diverse backgrounds. The Nutrition Center promotes community health through organizing, advocacy, and education. The long term goal of the Nutrition Center is to build a viable food system while supporting local leaders, strengthening community ties, and engaging youth as agents of change.

The service member at St. Mary’s would work with area public schools to increase hands-on learning about healthy food and work with nutrition services to increase culturally relevant school meals. When you serve in Maine, you are joining a family of 12 Service members serving all across the state. We connect both virtually and in person, spend time together and learn, and enjoy all the natural beauty and excellent food culture Maine has to offer. No matter where you are, you have the support of the cohort and FoodCorps Maine staff, Malia and Ryan, who both grew up in Maine and love sharing all that is great about this state with service members who we hope will put down roots here and continue to be an important part of Maine.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience working with a wide range of groups of people, especially children, that could include people living in poverty, recent immigrants and refugees, people with developmental disabilities, people in recovery, and people dealing with trauma and insecurity in diverse realms of their live
  • Experience with collaborative work and commitment to building strong partnerships
  • Ability to develop trusting and respectful relationships with people of various ages, races, faiths, cultures, sexual orientations and class backgrounds
  • Highly organized, punctual and able to handle multiple responsibilities
  • Self-motivated, flexible, and able to work independently and as an effective team player