Sal Sanneh Big Day of Giving Fundraising Page

My work at HEC is important to me because we are are constantly in direct contact with the community. I would wholeheartedly say I am a people person. I enjoy actually seeing the faces of the people we serve, as well as interacting with them.  This is also why I enjoy the work we do, in addition to finding it important. HEC is a place that provides a platform for the community to voice their needs, and I am fortunate to play a huge role in that. 

The biggest community problem I hope to fix while working at HEC is ensuring we can either meet the needs of the community or point them to an individual or entity that can meet their needs. Some people might have only one need while others could have multiple. Due to the different amount of services we can provide, we can reach a large number of people. It is our hope that people among the community are providing resources amongst themselves, also. It takes collaboration from inside and outside the community to meet everyone's needs. 

As it relates to public health, I am extremely interested in environmental health. I enjoy learning about how the misuse of nature impacts health outcomes and how we can use it to improve health outcomes. Within environmental health, I am passionate about urban planning as it relates to active transportation, green space, urban heat islands and making the landscape conducive for people to engage in regular physical activity. The main thing that keeps me working on tough issues is the smiles I see from the people we serve at distributions, outreach events, health fairs, etc. They are the reason why we do what we do.

 My proudest moment to date at HEC has been gaining the trust of my supervisor, Roxana, and the encouragement of my colleagues, to coordinate our many food distributions across the neighboring counties we serve. We have our West Sacramento Housing distribution (Yolo), Mack Road Valley Hi Community Center Food distribution (Sacramento), and Maidu Village Senior Center distribution (Placer). HEC collaborates with the Yolo Food Bank, Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, and Placer Food Bank to provide fresh produce and non-perishables to individuals experiencing food insecurity. It was a daunting task at first and I questioned myself early on. However, with time, practice, and consistency, I believe I have the hang of it now. 

Due to the lifting of the mask mandate and vaccination efforts, the Healthy Schools Team is beginning to table more at outdoor outreach events and health fairs. At the start of the pandemic, we did a lot of virtual cooking demonstrations through Zoom. It has been an interesting transition returning to in-person events, but it is also a nice, welcomed change.

My fundraising goal is at least $300. For every $100, I'll lightly job 50-100 meters with my bad left Achilles. For every $200, I will do the "Hot One's Challenge." For every $300+, I will do the "Paqui Ghost Pepper Chip Challenge."