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Tawni Holmes, Ph.D., is a registered dietitian, professor and Nutrition, Dietetics & Food Management Director in the Human Environmental Sciences department at UCO where she has been teaching nutrition/dietetics since 2004. She incorporates many service-learning projects and transformative experiences in her courses and encourages and mentors students to participate in undergraduate research projects in the area of wellness, community nutrition, sports nutrition and sustainability.  She serves as the advisor for the Food Recovery Network student organization. Many of Dr.Holmes students volunteer with us at Edmond Mobile Meals.

Check out our interview with Tawni:

How did you initially get involved with Edmond Mobile Meals?  
A colleague who was in gerontology at UCO suggested it and made the connection for me.  I teach nutrition, in my life span and community nutrition courses we learn about community organizations and my students’ do service-learning projects.  By getting involved I was also able to get my students involved as well.

How long have you served on the Board of Directors?
This is my 3 rd 3-year term I believe. Maybe around 2012??

What is it about the EMM mission that is meaningful to you? 
As a registered dietitian, serving a nutrition meal to our homebound population is important to me. Any meal for some would be a game-changer, but I’m proud that we go the extra mile and serve a healthy meal that is tasty, and we have an excellent chef to thank for that.

What is your favorite thing about serving on the Board of Directors at EMM?
The group who serves are awesome people and really dedicated to making a difference in the organization. It’s easy to work with good leadership. The executive director, the volunteer coordinator and the chef all make the organization run so smoothly and it is impressive what they can do with such a small team.

Why do you believe it is important to serve others in your community?
It’s a simple way that I can make a difference in someone’s life who may be struggling.  There are a lot of ways to serve, and it doesn’t just have to be about donating a lot of money.  I can serve by giving my time and my ideas.

Anything else you’d like to add.
I would encourage anyone wanting to serve the community to volunteer! It’s an awesome organization and runs so smoothly- volunteering is a pleasure!

Thank you, Tawni, for serving on the Edmond Mobile Meals Board of Directors and all that you do for our community!