Each week our Allscripts Teaching Kitchen hosts nutrition education cooking classes (taught in both English and Spanish) for low-income families. Many of the women in the classes are single mothers working their way out of very tough situations. When they come to the Food Bank, they learn how to prepare different dishes that include healthy produce, whole grains, and lean proteins. We know that many are struggling financially, so we send them home with leftovers and a box of ingredients so they can prepare the dish again.

But there’s another barrier that prevents many of the families from sharing a healthy, home-cooked meal. Many of the class participants have limited pots and pans and other cookware at home – all things that would make it possible for them to cook the recipes they’ve learned.

Luckily, we had a few special donors who wanted to help! After hearing of this need, Thomas and Diane drove an hour to our Raleigh Branch to personally donate cookware for our cooking class participants. There were stock pots, vegetable steamers, sauce pans, frying pans, and more. You can imagine how excited and grateful the women in the classes were to receive these new items for their kitchens.

Real neighbors, real impact

“Money is very tight, so we cook at home for all meals,” says one mother. “I cook every day with only a few pans; having this (large stock) pot will help so much.”

I love the steamer, I have never had one before,” says another. “We have been learning about lots of vegetables in class, so I cannot wait to use it.”

“It is hard to keep up with meals with what we have,” adds another participant. “Having the extra pans will help me provide for my family.

 

Not only can you hear the gratitude in the words of the women above, but the joy was evident in the smiles on their faces as well. It was wonderful to send our students home with even more tools and a bit of a confidence boost. This was about more than pots and pans. It’s about opportunity and access to putting a healthy meal on the table.

Together, these skills and supplies are changing lives and nourishing neighbors, one family at a time. And it is all because of our amazing supporters that we have the capacity to offer the kitchen space, the classes, the ingredients, and now the cookware to take home. We could never do this important work alone.


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Right now, you can also make a difference for families taking our healthy cooking classes! Make your gift today!