The belief that everyone plays a role in supporting the communities of America has been at the heart of this nation’s story since its founding, said Broderick Johnson, assistant to President Barack Obama and cabinet secretary during the opening statements at the White House Champions of Change award panel last Friday.
Karen Vauk, president and CEO of Idaho Foodbank in Boise, was one of 10 people in the country to receive last week’s Champion of Change award for her work with Idaho Foodbank and AmeriCorps VISTA.
“These individuals have made outstanding contributions that have strengthened this great nation,” Johnson said.
Every week, Champions of Change, like Vauk, are invited to the White House in Washington D.C. to be recognized for their efforts and to share their ideas for the future. The nominees each week come from a variety of different categories, such as education or family-friendly workplaces, she said.
Vauk said while she was nominated specifically in the category of AmeriCorps VISTA and Employers of National Service, the Champions of Change program is much broader than that.
“It’s something that President Obama had implemented as a program because he knew that there were lots of really good things happening across the country, and he wanted to be able to highlight some of those areas that he thought were pretty fundamental in changing communities for the better,” Vauk said.
Vauk has been with Idaho Foodbank since 2009 as the president and CEO. She said the AmeriCorps VISTA program is similar to the Peace Corps program, but it is domestic, rather than international. She said individuals sign up for a one or two-year term of volunteer service with an organization in the U.S. to give back to their communities.
She said the Champion of Change award was also in recognition of the fact that Idaho Foodbank looks to hire individuals who have served as VISTA volunteers, and they hired four full-time employees in the last year from the VISTA program.
“They are incredible individuals and their experience is really quite unique,” Vauk said. “We found that by the time they’ve completed their year or two years of service, they’ve really had the opportunity to refine their problem solving skills … as well as their commitment to community service and serving others.”
AmeriCorps VISTA founded the Idaho Foodbank 31 years ago, Vauk said. It is a statewide organization with three main facilities in Boise, Lewiston and Pocatello.
“Our vision is for a hunger-free Idaho,” Vauk said. “Through our services we are reaching about 131,000 people every month.”
She said the primary service Idaho Foodbank is widely known for providing is free emergency food to individuals and families in need, but it also provides education through the “Cooking Matters” program — a six-week education program that addresses nutrition and cooking skills. She said the organization has also started working with healthcare providers, so individuals have access to healthcare while receiving the free food distribution.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve had significant growth in the volume of food and the services we’re providing,” Vauk said. “That was, in large part, due to the growing need in the state.”
She said the number of individuals and families in need had escalated, and even with the growth of Idaho Foodbank, she said it is still unable to reach all of the 250,000 people in Idaho who are “food insecure.”
Despite this, the large number of people Vauk is able to reach and the new programs she has helped to implement in the region were worthy of recognition by the White House, an accomplishment she said is honorable.
“The staff of the White House, and also those from the Corporation for National and Community Service were really quite generous in their remarks and their appreciation for what the Champions of Change have been doing in our communities,” she said. “It was an honor. I was very proud to accept the award on behalf of the Idaho Foodbank.”
Mary Malone can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @InkSlasherEdit