Early in December, the Kitchen Co-op was approached by OneROOF asking if we would be able to participate in their SEE (Streets to Employment and Education) program by teaching nutritional cooking in our commercial kitchen. OneROOF provides services to youth experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, homelessness. The SEE program helps develop skills that lead to successful independence.
So far, we have led three cooking sessions in December, and will lead two more in January. The youth spend three hours learning and preparing healthy, affordable meals that they take home. They are also learning transferable kitchen skills that can be useful in employment.
We are excited to be taking part in this and have been successful in obtaining grant money from The United Way; this is a second piece of the Food For Belonging grant. (The African Cultural Cooking is the other part.) The second cohort begins in February – 12 weeks – and we look forward to working with the OneROOF team. Both students and staff have said how much they look forwards to and enjoy the cooking – and love bringing home food they have prepared themselves. So far they have made shepherds’ pies, roasted chicken, several pasta meals, cookies, apple crisp and more!
