Harvest Kitchen Project

Last night, Alex and I attended the Winnipeg Harvest board meeting and gave a presentation on the Harvest Kitchen Project.

As a couple, we have been involved in many volunteer and community-based projects over the years but it has been a long time since I have felt so excited about working with an organization and the work we are doing. The whole story, of course, starts with a regular customer at the Bistro who has beautifully shifted into a friend. Sherri Walsh is a lawyer, a wife and mom, and president of the board of Harvest. One night, she started to tell me about her work at Harvest. She has been a volunteer there for 20 years and clearly loves it. Until recently, Harvest has been housed in a series of warehouse buildings on Winnipeg Ave. Harvest has been adapting to space constraints for years. When the federal government created stimulus infrastructure grants, Harvest recognized an opportunity to get rolling on some space designed for their needs.

Currently, there is a wee room in the old building that has some counters, a household sink and a household stove. Every day, a group of (mostly) women come in, set up crock pots and electric skillets, balance cutting boards on rolling carts, and make lunch for 80 people. It is amazing. So, the first goal for the new space is to provide these 'lunch ladies' with some proper work space. The second series of goals relate to training and education, and this is where Alex and I really step in. The goal is to provide educational programming for clients of Harvest: cooking with diabetes; cooking for kids/teens; cooking for new immigrants; cooking for families, etc. WIth a general theme of working with low-cost foods. We also hope to expand this part of the program to include some gardening skills to supplement the food supplies. (Last year, Harvest used old blue boxes to have container gardens!) We're hoping to write some curriculum and get some community members out to teach some of these classes.

The Training Program is going to be more intensive and about creating job-ready candidates, hopefully shifting clients away from needing the services of Harvest. We plan to offer 6 or 8 week courses that will teach people basic kitchen skills that will prepare them for entry level positions in kitchens at nursing homes, hospitals, cafeterias. We will also offer some extended training courses on meat cutting and baking for jobs in butcher shops and bakeries. This is the part of the project where will be tapping some of our chef friends for some support (head's up!) I also think there might be some room to teach a course of being a server but I haven't quite sorted that out.

We have many more ideas percolating away: fundraising dinners executed by students, pea soup making contest entries at Festival du Voyageur (split peas are a frequent item in Harvest baskets),recipes for obscure items provided for clients in their baskets, more Hot in the Kitchen calendars? We are very excited about it and hope that some folks out there in our lovely city will generate some ideas and get into the project with us.