Dainajoy McFarlane

Hardworking Kitchen Assistant well-versed in food preparation techniques and inventory management to maintain consistent stock of needed supplies. Shoulders multiple kitchen tasks in support of cooks and servers. Thrives in busy environments.

Being the giving person I am I tend to ensure that I am always involved in my community. During my four years at TTU I would volunteer as much as possible. I would tend to volunteer through the school because there would be organizations looking for young people to help. I would be the first to sign up and usually in the end I would have the most hours. While in Tennessee I worked with a couple organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Food to the Rescue. There were other organizations that I would work with but they were much smaller and would only be dealing with community out reach. Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization that helps ton clothe, feed as well as build homes for families or elderly individuals that are not able to afford the basic necessities needed for living. While volunteering there I was able to build friendships with the people that we were helping during that time and it meant a lot because they trusted me enough to share about their personal life as well as their current or past struggles. Even though we were there to help them either build their home or pack up boxes of food, they would also lend a helping hand. The first project that I did while volunteering was build a home from scratch. This home was being built for a elderly woman that had no surviving family other than her son. We were able to build her a one story home with one and a half bathroom and two bedrooms. She was over the moon to that the community came together in her time of need. During the year 2020 a tornado hit the community of Cookeville TN. It was a disaster, there were people missing as well as homes being torn apart. I was able to volunteer with some my teammates through a mutual friend. While there we were instructed to help clean up the debris, or even help families find their valuables. While there we were warned to be aware of the fact that we might encounter a body or even the severed limbs of individuals. We were also there to ensure that other volunteers had water and snacks close by when needed. Working with Food for Rescue we would pack hundred of boxes with snacks and can food to drop it off to the families or they would pick it up themselves. During this packing period we would have another extra box for the families with children's. We would pack those boxes with things that would be more appealing to their liking and it would also give them the opportunity to bring some in their lunch boxes for school. Though my season started in November I was still heavily involved in the community, during this time I was also able to start my internship on campus as well. I was fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to get hands on experience as both a health administrator and a nurse. Before starting I had to do a program that was called " Measuring and Maximizing Impact of COVID-19 Contact Tracing". I was able to complete this program through John Hopkins University and I earned my certificate on January 25, 2022. After getting this certificate I was able to help during contact tracing while working at the student health center. I was also given the opportunity to sit in on a interview and give my own personal input on whether the candidate would be a good fit for the opening. Based off the interaction and attitude of the candidate we decided that she would not have been a good fit for the environment that we were trying to maintain. Working along side other nurses I was able to get hands on experience with the triage nurses. If needed I was equipped enough to take over a triage room if needed. On the other hand I was doing paper work pertaining to the patients as well as the facility itself.