FIND food bank empowers local youth with internship opportunities
Hernán Quintas
COACHELLA, Calif. (KESQ)– The FIND Food Bank is helping empower local youth by offering different partnerships and internship programs.
The FIND organization aims to provide students with skillsets to pursue a higher education, hands-on training, professional development and more.
“Here at FIND food bank, what we do is we want to give our youth of the community the empowerment to make a difference, and not only that, but to break the cycle of poverty within their families in the local community,” Priscilla Salcedo, Director of Community Impact at FIND says. “Each program focuses on their own specific standards and curriculum. We have multiple [programs] currently for this summer, we have our healthcare career connections, we have Bank of America which focuses on accounting, and then we also have our California Climate Action Corps that focuses on food rescue as well as volunteer recruitment.”
Diana Zaragoza, an intern through Health Career Connections (HCC), a rising junior at UCLA and a Coachella Valley native, shared her experience conducting nutrition workshops for children in the Coachella Valley.
Zaragoza explains, “I come from an immigrant family, and I think just seeing them struggle sometimes when I was younger, I think it’s important for me to educate the future generations about the importance of health and really taking care of your body.”
The programs get students involved in different organizations connected with their interests and help leave a lasting impact on the community.
Eric Huerta, a senior at Desert Mirage High School, is hoping to get into the medical field with the help of the Bank of America Student Leaders Program. Huerta hopes his 7-week internship helps him learn skills to achieve his goal.
Hureta says, “With this workshop, we do a lot of nutritional workshops for the kids. And since I’m really interested in the medical field, I feel like this is really helping me gain that experience and also helping my community.”
Fortunately for Hureta, this year, Bank of America selected him out of 315 students from around the nation to be part of the FIND food bank internship program.
He continued, “I think it’s really teaching me that when we are growing and that we have to come back to our community to help, because this community has a lot of people who sometimes need help, whether it’s by food or like any other financial need.”
Another proud student from the valley, Carmen Olmos, who wants to be an accountant, joined FIND’s food bank internship program through HCC. She explained, “It is a full circle, because going to college, it’s such a privilege being able to go to college coming from here, I didn’t think it would have been possible for me. So being able to come back and help, it’s such a wonderful experience, truly full circle.”
Salcedo explains that FIND helps young people prepare for the workforce by providing real-world experience and professional environments. She emphasized that through the programs young people begin building skills and experience needed for future careers.
Olmos explains what being a part of this program means to local students, “I didn’t think I would be having an internship here, and I’m extremely grateful for that. So being able to help this nonprofit here where I was born and raised, it just really is full circle.”