Food Share

• FREE weekly classes for 8-12 students on general interest topics, including using seasonal produce; cooking from scratch; stretching your food dollar; building up a smart pantry, cooking out of a food box, etc. These will be learn-by-doing classes that will emphasize healthy, economical eating and include preparing a meal to share in the kitchen plus a main dish to take home.

• Kids in the Kitchen – FREE monthly or quarterly classes similar to the above for youth.

• Special weekly class demos for cooks with some experience (up to 16 students) on topics like artisan breads, vegetarian cooking, ethnic foods, special diets, holiday treats, etc. We will ask for a suggested donation for these demos to cover the cost of purchasing food and supporting future kitchen programming.

• Quarterly master classes for foodies and experienced home cooks, taught by guest chefs as fundraisers for MPFS. These will be more elegant, gourmet cooking classes with suggested donations to cover the cost of food and provide support for Marion-Polk Food Share.

Neighborhood Tables

“From the homespun ideal of ‘kitchen table wisdom’ to the church ideal of ‘table fellowship,’ gathering around the table has a long tradition. Coming together with others brings us feelings of security, belonging, and self respect. We feel more cared for and we become more caring. And maybe we even have more wisdom.” (from Take Back Your Time).

Social interaction is a much more effective delivery system for traditional wisdom, community values, and access to resources than the “missionary” model. Since much of the most significant social interaction in our culture occurs when people are gathered over food or beverage around a table, cultivating leaders who can gather their neighbors to prepare and share a meal on a regular basis creates a unique opportunity to build healthier neighborhoods and healthier communities one meal at a time.

• This initiative brings together a concept from Trinity Presbyterian Church in Arvada, Colorado and the “community kitchens” that have been operating successfully in British Columbia for the past 30 years. It will replace the Pantry Partners program, which we found could only provide minimal service to a small number of food pantries.

• Starting this summer, we plan to offer a comprehensive 8-12 hour training program to at least 12-15 volunteers each quarter in order to equip them with skills in leadership, neighborhood organizing, poverty awareness, sustainable living, basic cooking skills, safe food handling, basic nutrition and meal planning, budgeting the food dollar, and celebrating cultural diversity.

• Trained “hosts” will then have the skills they need to organize Neighborhood Tables/community kitchens in their own neighborhoods, which can meet weekly, monthly, or occasionally. Neighborhood Tables will bring small groups of neighbors together to plan, prepare, and share a meal: in someone’s home, a neighborhood school, the local firehouse, church on the corner, or business down the street—any place with a kitchen where neighbors can gather to cook and eat together. Like the old story of Stone Soup, neighbors will get to know each other and hopefully begin to share resources of all kinds: giving neighborhoods pride in identity, increasing self-sustainability, and the ability to take care of one another—making life a little easier and happier for all involved.