Journal Entry - Week 7

Internship Dates – 6/25, 6/26, & 6/30 (Total of 10 hours)

In fulfilling my internship requirements at the Community Food Bank, I have been privileged to experience and learn from different obstacles brought up each week. I am consistently taken aback by how much I am learning daily for the first time in a field that I previously thought was very similar to my previous background and experience. This week in particular, I have had the opportunity to learn about the process of auditing and how a non-profit organization must emphasize correction in the areas of need brought out by an outside accountability source.

Prior to the beginning of my internship, the Community Food Bank of Citrus County had been audited by Feeding Tampa Bay, a regional partner of Feeding America. The audit brought out many important remedial areas including issues with the building physically, documenting discrepancies, and the process of fulfilling recall notices. These areas are important and in sitting down with Mr. Autry, the Executive Director, and Mrs. Jones, the Warehouse Manager, we were able to openly and honestly discuss ways of fixing these and other areas brought out in the audit.

One of my suggestions in rectifying the issue with recalls was to create a binder, which would be placed in a central area in the warehouse. This binder would be where recalls would be logged and kept so that they would not be forgotten, misplaced, or ignored. The office already prints out the recalls and brings them to the warehouse, so they would now just place them in the binder and remind the staff that a new recall has come in. Both leaders appreciated my idea and I do believe that it will come to fruition at the Food Bank.

While this area was an easier one to remedy, many of the other concerns are not so easily fixed. It will take a lot of work to do so and I am thankful for the opportunity that I have to provide any assistance that I can in this process. I can see how this would be frustrating and I continue to stay positive and work to encourage not only the leadership, but also all of the staff involved in this process. I look forward to being able to share more about this process of remediation.

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