Sara Franklin is an independent food systems consultant and freelance writer. Her work focuses on community health, rural-urban development channels, social justice and urban agriculture. She has farmed in Massachusetts and New York and has worked with various agriculture and anti-poverty organizations in communities across the U.S. as well as in South Africa, Turkey and Brazil. When she’s not on the road, Sara is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Volunteer programs often offer little social value — instead they're a form of poverty voyeurism.