Community Food Advisor

There are many benefits to being a Community Food Advisor. You will have the opportunity to:

• Meet new people
• Develop and practice communications and leadership skills
• Learn about safe food handling and healthy food preparation
• Share knowledge and skills to help others in our community

Volunteers should have:

• An interest and ability to learn and share information and skills
• Basic knowledge and experience in food selection, preparation and storage
• An ability to help individuals and groups to learn
• Time to participate
• The ability to read and speak English
• Experience in community work, leadership or as a volunteer
• Two references

There is no educational requirement to volunteer.

Community food advisors provide reliable, unbiased and current information to individuals and groups of all ages. Topics may include:

• Safe food handling
• Canada’s Food Guide
• Grocery shopping and budgeting
• Food preparation
• Preserving and storing foods
• Meal planning

Responsibilities for Community food advisors include:

• Leading small cooking classes or workshops
• Organizing and staffing community displays
• Presenting or demonstrating and answering questions from the public
• Developing educational resources with the City
• Program development

Volunteer or community placements are at various locations in Hamilton.

Community food advisors are required to:

• Attend and participate in monthly evening meetings and other activities
• Attend a minimum of two educational sessions each year
• Complete at least five community placements per year
• Commit to volunteer for a minimum of two years

If you are accepted as a volunteer, you must complete 45 hours of training including:

• 10 educational sessions
• Test for the Food Handler Certification Course
• Two community placements

Training is usually on a weekday.  You can also attend three or four optional educational sessions as part of the training.  There is no cost for the training.

Community Food Advisors are not trained to provide information on specific health conditions, specific diets or nutrition practices.