Old Pine Community Center
Title: Food Insecurity, Distribution, and Cooking in Philadelphia
Student Interns:
Harrison Lennertz
University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine
Mariam Suhaib
University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine
Academic Preceptor:
Abby Quinn Peterson, DMD, MPH
University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine
Elizabeth Powell, DDS, MPH
University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine
Brittany Watson, VMD, PhD, DACVPM, MS
University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine
Community Preceptor:
Mark Atwood
Old Pine Community Center
Community Site:
Old Pine Community Center is an all-purpose space for a variety of community gatherings, athletic events, and kids’ summer day camps. The site also serves as a significant center of food redistribution, receiving contributions from Philabundance, local restaurants, and generous individuals to prepare grocery bags for low-income communities and meals for various organizations, such as Puentes de Salud and Depaul USA.
Team’s Experience:
The Bridging the Gaps interns’ work involved continuous support for Old Pine’s food operations, helping prepare food in the mornings for community organizations, cooking for the day camp’s lunch, and organizing grocery donations received from Philabundance. They also performed miscellaneous tasks, including various organizational assignments and helping to paint walls within the facility. The interns also performed two presentations for the children at the day camp: Mariam presented on youth oral health, and Harrison presented on the basics of dogs’ body language. Overall, the interns’ responsibilities supported the various leaders’ efforts to run smooth operations in the facility during the summer.
Reflections
Spending time at Old Pine Community Center via the BTG CHIP helped develop my interest in nonprofit work and direct community engagement. Wanting to go into shelter medicine, understanding how nonprofit structure works and the importance of catering to the needs of the community is critical to the field. The purpose of a shelter in the field is to provide hopefully temporary housing and care for animals, giving them the opportunity to live healthily; conversely, the purpose of a center like OPCC is to keep our community fed and safe. Cooperation with programs like Philabundance parallels the need for institutional food and medical donations in shelters, showing how the success of building up a community is not through any one philanthropic effort, but rather a collaboration of everyone within that community to work towards an end goal with whatever tools are at their disposal. I believe what I learned during this internship has reinforced my existing passions and will inform how I proceed in a career in shelter medicine and community veterinary care.
Harrison Lennertz
My experiences at BTG have been beyond meaningful and have reinforced the idea that health extends beyond the clinic walls. At OPCC, I was behind the scenes in efforts to combat social determinants of health, such as food insecurity, and it opened my eyes to the immense amount of collaboration and dedication required to support a community. Working alongside my team showed me how meaningful change is possible when people come together for a shared purpose. From a professional standpoint, this experience also helped me understand that improving health goes far beyond treating the disease. It is about ensuring that individuals have access to the basic resources they need in their daily lives. Bridging the Gaps has been a powerful reminder that meaningful, lasting change comes from meeting individuals where they are and addressing their needs with empathy and respect. In dentistry, we are often focused on treating the disease instead of understanding the circumstances that contribute to it. We are quick to tell a patient to eat healthier, but we may not stop to consider whether they may have the means to access healthier options in the first place. My experiences at BTG have been truly invaluable. I will carry the lessons of compassion, teamwork, and service throughout my career as a dentist, aiming to make a positive impact on my patients both inside and outside the dental office.
Mariam Suhaib
Partners
