By Amy Burger
I feel lucky to have been able to work as an intern for The Vegetarian Resource Group during the Spring 2021 semester. I hoped to do an internship as part of my Master of Arts in English, but due to the pandemic, my school’s listed opportunities were much more limited than usual, and often required hours that wouldn’t work for my schedule, since I have a full-time job. As a result of these factors, finding an internship placement seemed like a challenge, but as it turns out, the answer was closer than I’d imagined. Over the previous several months, I’ve been receiving copies of Vegetarian Journal as a perk of my membership with The VRG. Many of the issues featured interns writing about their work with the group, and recent such columns indicated that a remote internship might be possible.
Fortunately, it was. I was able to work remotely from my home office, writing articles, learning about layout and copyediting, and getting a better understanding of the nonprofit world. Not only did the internship represent an opportunity to work with an organization whose mission I care about, and to learn hands-on, it also allowed me to further develop skills I’d learned in my classes, through taking a grant-writing workshop and writing several pieces, from restaurant guide listings to articles for the VRG.org blog and for Vegetarian Journal. The tastiest parts of this experience were when I got to write a review of a local restaurant, try fishless tuna for a Veggie Bits review, and sample recipes from Vegan Boards, a new cookbook I had the chance to review.
The internship lasted for fourteen weeks, and for the last few of these, I focused on two more in-depth projects related to The VRG’s upcoming 40th anniversary in 2022: an article about former scholarship winners, and one about former volunteers and employees. These projects required a lot of legwork, in terms of tracking down current contact information and getting in touch with people to get answers to my questions for the articles, and then putting everything together. While writing them was somewhat challenging, it was ultimately very rewarding.
In communicating with individuals who’d worked at some point with The VRG in some capacity, I was impressed by the universal esteem for the organization. People told me how much they loved The VRG, respected its work, and thought fondly of it. One frequent comment was of appreciation for The VRG’s grounding in science. The evidence-based ethos of the organization has been part of its identity from the beginning and has contributed to its reputation as a trustworthy resource today.
As an intern, I can also say that The VRG is an incredibly supportive organization to work for. I, and other previous interns, appreciate that the coordinators allow each individual to pursue their own interests through their work, and connect them to opportunities related to these interests.
While my internship is ending and graduation is finally in sight, my involvement with The VRG is just beginning. I plan to continue volunteering by writing articles and helping with projects, and maybe someday soon I will be able to visit Baltimore and thank them in person.
For more information about interning with The Vegetarian Resource Group, see vrg.org/student/index.php
To support The Vegetarian Resource Group internships, donate at vrg.org/donate Or join at vrg.org/member/cabdacae.php