Ester was recommended to Petaluma Bounty by allies in the health care sector. She recently completed her academic summer internship with us and will get credit with her Nutrition program at UC Davis. Ester provided the following description of her time. We are grateful to Ester for jumping into multiple initiatives and leaving each of them in better standing than she found them. Thank you Ester, and please do keep in touch! We are so excited to witness the changes that you are and will continue to bring about in your work!

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“My name is Ester Fernandez, and I am a student at UC Davis studying Clinical Nutrition. This summer I had the opportunity to intern for the Petaluma Bounty. It has been an eye opening experience for me. While interning for the Petaluma Bounty I have had the privilege of working with their partners at the Petaluma Health Center at several of the programs they offer. One known as PLAY, which is a program involving Petaluma Health Center patients and their families, where they are taught about healthy exercise, good nutrition and better eating habits. With this program I was in charge of introducing different fruits and vegetables to the group of children and to get them excited about trying new foods. I was also in charge of updating the Petaluma’s Food Resource Guide, which advertised all of the outreach programs available to those in need within the community. In addition I worked a weekly farm stand at the Petaluma Health Center, which sold produce at reduced prices in the effort of inspiring healthier eating habits to lower income families.

I gained knowledge of how Petaluma Bounty is successful at becoming a modern sustainable farm and operating in a traditional market system. The farm is able to flourish in their partnership with the health center. Together the farm and clinic, work to spread nutrition education throughout the community. As an intern I was able to become a part of the Petaluma Bounty and to spread their goals of making healthy food available to anyone, and to teach better eating habits. I also immersed myself with the community and got feedback from the participants of our programs on how we can improve for them.

This internship has been an amazing experience for me. I look forward to keeping in touch with the Petaluma Bounty and watch as they continue to reach out and provide their help throughout the community.”