Farmers' Market Internship Opportunities
ORGANIZATION: Benevolence Farm
Please visit the new page to apply.
Farmers’ Market Internship Opportunities
Benevolence Farm is seeking committed interns who can manage and represent Benevolence Farm at our Saturday morning and Tuesday afternoon farmers’ markets in Alamance County. This season is our first year of substantial production, an exciting time to join the Benevolence Farm team! Interns will assist in building the foundations of our market presence and customer loyalty. Interns will gain valuable experience and education in the marketing of a small but growing farm business.
Interns must be able to commit to at least 10 dates for each farmers’ market for a total of 8 hours per market. One intern can manage both markets or two interns can manage one market each.
The expected start date is around early June and the end date is late October. Specific dates TBD. 10 days of attendance per market is expected.
Responsibilities
Load, transport and set up market products at the farmers’ market 30 minutes before market opens.
Pack up materials at the end of market and return items to farm.
Display produce in an appealing arrangement and maintain product freshness and quantity.
Manage cash transactions with customers.
Provide education to customers about basic growing questions, crop varieties and characteristics, and cooking suggestions.
Complete inventories of sales through farm logs and other documentation as necessary.
Qualifications
Ability to lift 25 lbs, occasionally up to 50 lbs.
Ability to work in a variety of weather conditions for extended periods
Experience with farmers’ market sales is preferred, but ability to work with the public is required
At least 1 year experience in commercial vegetable production, produce retail sales, or avid gardening
Experience with customer service or retail sales
Ability to count and handle money accurately and quickly
Valid driver’s license and your reliable personal vehicle for loading produce and display items.
Compensation
This is an unpaid internship. However, interns are welcome to $25 worth of produce per market day.
How to Apply:
Please send a resume (pdf) and a paragraph demonstrating your interest and why you would be a good fit by April 15th to Rebecca Ogus, Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator, at rebecca @benevolencefarm.org .
More opportunities with Benevolence Farm
No additional volunteer opportunities at this time.
About Benevolence Farm
Location:
4265 Thompson Mill Rd, United States, Graham, NC 27253, US
Mission Statement
The mission of Benevolence Farm is to provide an opportunity for women leaving prison to live and work on a farm where they grow food, nourish self, and foster community.
Description
We will provide a 6- to 24-month holistic, transitional living program based on a working farm for up to 12 women leaving North Carolina prisons. Residents will be partially self-supporting through growing their own food, their labor contribution to the farm, and the sale of harvests through local farmers markets, a Community Supported Agriculture program, and sales to restaurants and institutions. We will provide a portion of our harvest to low-income communities through partnerships with food banks and churches.
The need for Benevolence Farm exists because approximately 3,000 women are released from NC prisons each year. Benevolence Farm will offer safe, stable housing, employment that is meaningful and fulfilling, opportunities to grow skills - life and career, for up to two years. Because residents will be contributing to the operations of the farm, essentially paying part of their own expenses through their labor - they secure their involvement with the program and have the time and space, figuratively and literally, to make real, lasting changes.
Benevolence Farm draws upon a number of best practices with the results being good for women participants and their families, the greater community, the communities to which the women return, the farmland, the economy, and the earth.
Programming will include: entrepreneurship and small business skills; career building; financial health; family reunification; agriculture, horticulture and permaculture; food preparation and presentation; value-added production; nutrition; addiction recovery support; diverse food traditions; and community building.
Benevolence Farm's vision is to create a more equitable, just, and nurturing world for women and communities they transform. We are creating the program itself to be partially self-supporting through the production and sale of sustainably grown produce and products, thereby ensuring that the program continues to serve as many women as possible. Benevolence Farm is unique in combining a sustainable environment with a holistic social service mission thereby creating a mutually beneficial relationship enabling the healing of people with and through the healing of the earth.
CAUSE AREAS
WHEN
WHERE
4265 Thompson Mill RoadGraham, NC 27253
DATE POSTED
March 29, 2016
SKILLS
- Nutrition
- Food Delivery / Distribution
- Retail / Sales
- Community Outreach
GOOD FOR
N/A
REQUIREMENTS
- Driver's License Needed
- Orientation or Training
- Sat AM or Tues PM, 10 wks June-Oct
- Ability to lift 25-50 lbs, customer service, sales/money handling, work with public