Community Partner: CAIN
CAIN started as a food pantry in the Northside in the 1970s, and has expanded to become a cornerstone of the community. Since 2006, the pantry has operated as a choice pantry, empowering households to navigate the pantry for their own needs. Since then, CAIN has expanded its offerings to include haircuts, grocery delivery, health clinics, weekly hot meals, community gardening, and an anti-poverty coalition.
Currently, CAIN serves hundreds of people per week in their pantry alone. Through this and all of their other initiatives, they realize access to food as a human right, they practice responsible resource use, they commit to constant self-improvement and evolution towards the needs of their community, and they encourage joy in the accomplishments of their community.
About Megan
I was born and raised in the Dayton suburbs and then went to Duke University for college. Here, I found my niche at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. I worked on projects across healthcare advocacy and policy, including building a framework for a meal delivery service using locally grown food, comparing cost models from different perspectives, and addressing the growing global burden of hearing loss. I had amazing mentors and collaborators who taught me how to look at problems in partnership with the communities facing them.
I discovered I wanted to build my career as a physician who works in both of these arenas. I have so much more to learn, and participating in the service and advocacy elective is an amazing opportunity to do so. CAIN has been a cornerstone of the Northside community since before I was born, their customers have depths of wisdom to share. I’m grateful for the chance to keep learning, and I can’t wait to take these lessons with me into a career in pediatrics.