Kitchen Manager and Volunteer Coordinator

Join the Community Table team! Help us continue a great history for feeding our community and providing a joyous place for those in need of connection.

About the Community Table:

The Community Table is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide nutritious meals, in a welcoming environment, to our neighbors in need. Since 1999, our vision has been that no one in Jackson County, NC goes to bed hungry. We are more than a soup kitchen, more than a food pantry. Through our partnership with MANNA Food Bank, and with the ongoing support of our community, we are a powerful resource for our neighbors in need. We believe in connection, learning, compassion, empathy, and that everyone deserves the comfort and peace of knowing they can access fresh, healthy food. Each day, we provide homecooked meals and groceries for our neighbors, because we believe health and dignity are human rights.

As a team, we believe in collaboration and are passionate about what we do, and we care about those we serve. We work hard, laugh a lot, understand the importance of the work we do, and strive every day to better our community. We partner and coordinate with multiple agencies and organizations, from schools to emergency services, to DSS and the court system, to other MANNA partners and local farmers, to medical providers and counseling and recovery services, and many, many others. What we do is more than work. Our individual positions are more than just jobs. We are a force for caring and connection in the community, and we impact hundreds of lives in multiple ways, daily.

The Opportunity & What We’re Looking For:

We are in search of a skilled, compassionate individual to join our team and help us nourish and support those most in need in our community. We seek someone with a track record or reliability and an excellent work ethic.

Our Kitchen Manager plays a vital role whose duties include ensuring that the kitchen runs efficiently, within budget, providing delicious and nutritious meals to our community members in need, and being a warm, welcoming face of the Community Table.

As Volunteer Coordinator, priorities include scheduling and staffing volunteers for the kitchen, dinner service, food pantry, and truck delivery days, and maintaining an accessible volunteer calendar.

Work Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday for 8-10 hours a day, rare nights and weekends for special events.

The Basics:

• The Kitchen Manager and Volunteer Coordinator is to cook all daily meals, supervise kitchen and dining room operation during normal prep and serving hours, and during some special events, and to maintain volunteer staffing at a level that allows us to meet neighbors’ needs.

Required Qualifications:

• This position requires prior experience with high volume food service and following food safety regulations, and a food safety manager certification within 6 months of hire.
• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Reliability and strong work ethic
• Ability to work with people from a wide-range of backgrounds and abilities
  • Comfortable with spreadsheets, digital calendars, MS word, online forms

Preferred Qualifications:

• Past experience in recruiting and supervising volunteers
• Spanish language ability a plus

The Big Picture of Duties:

• General: Timely and efficient, able to lift and transport 30 pounds, able to stand and sit for long periods of time.
• Food: Knowledge, certification in, and ability to follow all standard food safety procedures -- from cooking to storage to clean-out of old items. Menu and meal preparation, serving the daily meal, planning and cooking lunch for staff and morning volunteers. Daily kitchen cleanup and overall cleanliness. Food inventory and ordering.
• Food Pickup: Required to pick up and be present at food deliveries for The Community Table, such as USDA deliveries, Food Drive donations, MANNA Truck deliveries, Farmer deliveries.
• Volunteers: Volunteer recruitment and scheduling to organization needs -- warmly welcoming, guiding, training, and supervising volunteers, coordinating with groups, students, and the court system to help individuals achieve required community service hours. Maintenance of a Volunteer Calendar. Excellent record keeping skills
• Communications & Community: Excellent interpersonal and communications skills, ability to speak to visitors, potential funders, and the community at large about the work we do and its value. Ability to be an advocate and representative of The Community Table and for those we serve. Maintain open communication with Executive Director and Food Pantry Manager.

Specific Duties:

• Follow Food Safety & USDA guidelines, and train volunteers to ensure volunteers do as well
• Temperature logging for freezers and refrigerators
• The Kitchen Manager and Volunteer Coordinator will occasionally be the only employee on site
• Assist with the Food Pantry-fill as needed
• Time sheet to Executive Director bi-weekly
• Light Paperwork and record keeping for: Meal Count, Volunteer records and hours, USDA, TEFAP, SNAP, Jackson County Courts, etc
• Wash, dry, fold kitchen towels and mop heads as needed
• Keeps running shopping list of needed items, food and kitchen supplies, etc
• Order food through MANNA Foodbank, Performance Food Service, local farms, USDA, and food co-operatives with an eye to budget and efficiency
• Ensure food is efficiently and appropriately used, and dated and stored properly
• Volunteer sheets filled out, online or in person, for contact and emergency information, and confidentiality to be maintained at all times
• Maintain Communication with Jackson County Court System in compliance with contract for Court Appointed Community Service
• Ensure the end-of-day checklist is completed, and assign volunteers to help keep all areas of The Community Table clean

Annual Special Event Cooking:

• Empty Bowl (April), Pottery Festival Breakfast and Lunch (First Saturday of November), Thanksgiving Meal (November, Thanksgiving day, done by 1pm)

Other duties as assigned by the Executive Director or Board of Directors

(The Executive Director will do an employee evaluation with the KM/VC after 6 months of employment and on an annual basis thereafter.)

If interested, please send an email with cover letter and resume to CTofJackson@gmail.com with the subject heading Kitchen Manager and Volunteer.

Position Open Until Filled.