OK, admit it. You watch cooking shows on television or YouTube and say to yourself, “I could do that.” You can!
Or perhaps you really like to cook and would like to share those skills with others. You can!
Or maybe you like to experiment with foods. You can!
You can do all of this by becoming an Extension Master Food Volunteer.
If you like cooking, eating, learning about local food or just simply – food, volunteering for N.C. Cooperative Extension may be just the opportunity for which you’ve been looking. I’m talking about the Extension Master Food Volunteer (EMFV) program. Applications are now being accepted, and training will start this spring.
The EMFV program, similar to the highly recognized Extension Master Gardener Volunteer (EMGV) program, is designed to provide volunteers the opportunity to support Extension’s Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) staff with food-related programming. Volunteers with the EMFV program will receive a core curriculum of 30 hours of training and will then shadow the FCS agent and other volunteers for 30 hours during their first year.
EMFV volunteers will be assisting with food prep and cooking, nutrition education, food safety classes, and conducting cooking and food demonstrations in the community. They will also have the opportunity to work with health and wellness fairs, our new county fair, and farmers’ market displays. Our EMFVs also work with 4-H youth programs and in-school and after-school programs related to growing foods, nutrition, and cooking. Volunteer opportunities can also include virtual programming, developing fact sheets and newsletter articles, and taking photos of food.
Training will include classes on nutrition, food safety and preservation, food systems, cooking techniques, and how to conduct a cooking demonstration. There will be both virtual and in- person training. We will be teaming up to train with new EMFV volunteers from Columbus County. In-person sessions will be at the Brunswick County Center of NC Cooperative Extension at the Government Complex in Bolivia and at the NC Cooperative Extension in Whiteville in Columbus County. These training classes will be on Tuesday afternoons beginning May 19 and continuing for 10 weeks.
Extension Master Food Volunteers have been active in Brunswick County for the past ten years. We were a pilot county and one of the first in the state to train volunteers for the Family and Consumer Science Program. We currently have four very active volunteers in this county. Perhaps you’ve seen them teaching at Hurricane Meal Kit: Food Safety and Nutrition classes or the Home Cooking Club.
I’ll be part of the FCS team, teaching the new volunteers as well as Avery Ashley, our Family and Consumer Science Extension Agent, and Maleah Evers, FCS Agent from Columbus County. For more information about this 2026 EMFV class, contact Ashley at avery_ashley@ncsu.edu
Syracuse is a Family and Consumer Science team member and can be reached at clsyracu@ncsu.edu or by calling NC Cooperative Extension, Brunswick County Center 910-253-2610.
