New Hope Mission food truck gives young people summer job experiences

Hope Mission is hiring kids to work inside a food truck to provide nutritious meals in underserved areas.

Edmonton-based charity Hope Mission has launched a new initiative for its young leaders.

Two students from the Tegler Youth Centre, 17-year-old Dawson Summerfield and 15-year-old Nicole Anderson, are serving up cheese, hot dogs and – on special occasions – tacos in a bag from a new Hope Mission food truck.

The goal is to provide accessible meals to young people while giving those same young people a chance to build important life skills, says program lead Oyin Awolusi.

It’s a new initiative this summer that will ultimately provide free meals to children at Hope Mission day camps while serving paying customers at events like farmers’ markets.

Both young workers interviewed for the position after learning about the opportunity through the centre’s leadership team.

“Our dream is that they eventually start running the food truck,” Awolusi said.

Anderson says the job has been “really interesting” so far.

“It teaches you everything, like a real job would … You learn a lot of responsibility, and for me personally, I’ve learned a lot of public speaking,” she said on Tuesday.

“This job has been able to push me out of my shell a little bit, and I’ve been able to learn a lot.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Galen McDougall