The Center for Innovation in Population Health (IPH) Workforce Development team recently served together sorting donations received by God’s Pantry Food Bank, a Lexington-based site within the nationwide network of Feeding America.
The IPH Workforce Development team is a group of remote staff based in Boston, Chicago, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, and Texas. The group came together for a 3-day retreat in Lexington, Kentucky.
As part of their time at the University of Kentucky, they agreed that an opportunity to serve the community together would align with the values of the center as well as the primary goal of building team cohesion and a workplace connectedness.
The staff at God’s Pantry Food Bank made the accommodation for the IPH Center group of 15 to come in person and to sort donations in their warehouse location. The team served alongside the food bank staff as well as local military personnel.
The group sorted over 5,000 lbs of food and household products that will be distributed to local food pantries to support the needs of members within the community.
In describing what the experience was like, Nick Guerra, Research Program Manager of the IPH Center, said “They [God’s Food Bank Pantry staff] were super enthusiastic and it really felt that they appreciated us being there. It was clear that they were passionate about the work that they did."
God’s Pantry Food Bank operates three Fayette County pantry locations, 5 days a week. These pantries are an essential resource for many people facing hunger. This summer, God’s Pantry Food Bank will be opening a fourth pantry location at the Lexington Public Library, Northside Branch.
For more ways to get involved, visit their site at godspantry.org/getinvolved
The University of Kentucky College of Public Health is undergoing a review by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) for re-accreditation. Part of this process includes the invitation to provide third-party comments. Anyone, including students, alumni, employers, community partners, etc., is allowed to share relevant information about the college directly with CEPH. If you would like to provide input to CEPH to inform their review, send your comments to submissions@ceph.org by May 4th, 2025.
