Alumnus Sivan Donenfeld Interns at Montclair Community Farms

Alumnus Sivan Donenfeld was an intern at the Montclair Community Farms for the fall of 2020 and stepped into the role of Farm Apprentice in the spring of 2021.

Sivan was a student in Dr. Lauren Dinour’s class, NUFD 383: Applied Community Nutrition. He graduated in Spring 2021 with a dietetics concentration in the Nutrition and Food Studies department.

Sivan noted, “Montclair Community Farms was the experience I didn’t know I needed. When I first came by the farm I wasn’t sure what to expect, but at such a dynamic time in my life and for most people around me, MCF became a second home.

Coming in during September 2020, I harvested the last of the summer crops and entered into the fall season. This was my first real experience connecting directly to our food system. Seeing, touching, and feeling where food comes from completely changed my outlook on the big picture. Coupling this with the outreach MCF has, such as running their Mobile Farmstand for food-insecure senior citizens and physically bringing the locally and organically grown produce right to them, has left a significant lasting impact on me.

I always knew I loved nature, but after my work at MCF, it gave me a sense of purpose. This is something I was inching towards for a while, but MCF was the push that sent me all the way. Getting to share this love of nature by teaching children and adults about sustainability, composting, plants, bees, and more shaped me and has helped guide me in directions I had never thought about previously.

In addition, being involved in a number of community health benefiting programs, together with other wonderful organizations in Montclair such as Toni’s Kitchen, showed me the importance of collaboration and teamwork.

Going into MCF as a dietetics student at Montclair State University, I was nutrition and food-centered in mind. MCF showed me the behind-the-scenes of our food system: all the labor and heart that goes into growing real food. I now know that food is so much more than calories and numbers, it ends up being the information that impacts every cell in our body. The energy that goes into growing food is essential and translates directly to the health of the entire community.

It takes a village, and I’m grateful to be part of Montclair Community Farms’ village.”