This fall, the University of Georgia Office of Service-Learning kicked off its second year of the AmeriCorps Community Food Fellows program with 23 new fellows eager to serve the Athens community.
“Last year, our fellows did a fantastic job connecting with organizations and provided hundreds of hours of invaluable hands-on service,” said Coleman Allums, AmeriCorps Community Food Fellows program coordinator. “I am so excited for this year’s cohort to build on these relationships and develop new partnerships across more organizations and expand our reach to benefit even more members of our community.”
The AmeriCorps Community Food Fellows program, funded by an AmeriCorps grant, launched in fall 2023 with the mission to build partnerships with local organizations dedicated to reducing food insecurity and food waste in the community. The inaugural cohort of 20 AmeriCorps fellows formed relationships with 20 partner organizations, both on and off campus, and provided more than 8,000 hours assisting in food recovery, delivery, and distribution efforts in the Athens area.
“I have a lot more appreciation for the strength in numbers mentality now. It’s an honor to be a part of the solution, and I feel more empowered to tackle problems like this and others in the future.” – Josh Robinson, AmeriCorps Food Fellow
The program is now heading into its second year with 23 AmeriCorps Food Fellows—a mix of UGA undergraduate and graduate students and Athens residents. The fellows are already connecting with local organizations like Concrete Jungle, Athens Community Council on Aging, Campus Kitchen, UGArden, Abundance Athens, Our Daily Bread, Shell to Shore, and more.

“It’s been awesome,” said Supatcha Saengpratoom, an applied biotechnology major with a biomedical emphasis and a minor in business from Cobb County. “I get to do what I love; I get to be outside. And I like how we have so many choices to find our passion and give back to the community.”
Throughout the year, AmeriCorps fellows provide leadership within the Athens area partner organizations and develop their own skills, gaining experience in teamwork, communications, volunteer management, nonprofit management, and fundraising. The program also builds a deep understanding of food insecurity and food waste and connects these issues to the fellows’ existing areas of study or expertise.
“This is definitely outside of my comfort zone,” said Saengpratoom, who has connected with UGArden and Campus Kitchen, “but it has allowed me to try new things and has opened more opportunities toward my major. I can now see myself going into plant sciences, or research and development, or even marketing—it can really go any number of ways.”

While the AmeriCorps Community Food Fellows is centered around food, many in this year’s cohort are studying vastly different subjects at UGA. Josh Robinson, a pharmaceutical sciences major with a biology minor from Grady County, said he became interested in the program because of his love of cooking and sharing great food with others. Since the program began, he has served with the Marigold Collective, which connects the Winterville and east Athens community to fresh food and supports local farmers, and Shell to Shore, a program that collects oyster shells to return to the coast to support the local oyster population.
“I’d always known how serious food insecurity was in Athens from working with Campus Kitchen, but I’d never realized just how many people and organizations were involved in fighting it until I joined this program,” Robinson said. “I have a lot more appreciation for the strength in numbers mentality now. It’s an honor to be a part of the solution, and I feel more empowered to tackle problems like this and others in the future.”
Brooke Mary McDermott, a political science major with a minor in women’s studies from Fulton County, said that, on the surface, it might not seem like her major connects to food, but she’s found that the topics of nutrition and food accessibility often come up in her class discussions.
“I have absolutely loved my fellowship thus far,” McDermott said. “I started working often with Bigger Vision, and I always have a really good time when I volunteer with them. I also find a lot of solace during a busy week by volunteering time at UGArden and being outside. I’m really lucky to be experiencing this fellowship at the time that I am.”
On top of working with organizations, the fellows regularly meet for training sessions to discuss and learn more about the issues surrounding food insecurity. An important aspect of the program is to not just provide service but to think about the systemic changes that could be made to alleviate issues in the future.
“If we expect fellows to make a difference in the world, we need to ensure that we are equipping them with the necessary conceptual tools to understand it in all its complexity,” Allums said. “One of my favorite parts of this program is the dedicated time we have to study the problems we’re trying to respond to.”
The AmeriCorps Food Fellows program is a yearly service opportunity and approved Experiential Learning activity that provides a living allowance to members and may award a Segal Education Award to assist in education expenses and loans upon the culmination of the year of service. To find more information about the program and stay tuned for updates and opportunities to join, follow: https://servicelearning.uga.edu/community-engagement/americorps-community-food-fellows/.
The 2024-25 AmeriCorps Community Food Fellows Cohort includes:
Sarah Baker, Clarke County
Master’s program: Historic preservation
Helen Belete, Gwinnett County
Majors: Agricultural and applied economics; Computer science
DJ Cadden, Columbia County
Master’s program: Advertising
Kait Campbell, Cobb County
Major: Applied biotechnology
Ada Chiejina, Gwinnett County
Master’s program: Social work
Shannon DeLeon, Greene County
Major: Sociology
Minor: Communication studies, public policy and management
Sierra Ellis, Taylor County
Majors: Chemistry; Cognitive science
Kailey Finley, Gwinnett County
Major: Teaching English to speakers of other languages
Kacy Hawkins, North Carolina
Major: Geography
Minor: Sociology
Jordan Haynes, Gwinnett County
Major: Management information systems
Minor: Studio art minor
Noah Kincaid, DeKalb County
Major: Environmental economics and management
Minor: Spanish
Brooke Mary McDermott, Fulton County
Major: Political science
Minor: Women’s studies
Helen Menard, Walton County
Major: Regenerative bioscience
Grace Miller, DeKalb County
Major: Geography with a certificate in sustainability
Khalelah Morris, Gwinnett County
Majors: Environmental economics and management; Biological sciences
Nabiha Rahman, Fulton County
Major: Advertising
Megan Riedinger, Forsyth County
Master’s program: Social work
Josh Robinson, Grady County
Major: Pharmaceutical sciences
Minor: Biology
Supatcha Saengpratoom, Cobb County
Major: Applied biotechnology with a biomedical emphasis
Minor: Business
Grayson Smith, Spalding County
Majors: Atmospheric sciences; Geography
Minor: Disaster management
Natalie Wong, Fulton County
Major: Environmental health science
The cohort also includes two members who are not currently UGA students: Emilie Castillo, a Clarke County resident who graduated from UGA in 2021 with a degree in geography; and Brandi Self, an Oconee County resident who joined from the nonprofit Marigold Collective.