Cooking Supplies for the AOUC Kids

Over the last 18 months my husband, Gastón, and I have held healthy-meal cooking-classes for more than 40 children ages 7-18 who are enrolled in Volunteers of America's All of Us Care program in Sharpsburg, PA. Our classes aim to fight our community's childhood hunger crisis by providing skills and cooking culture educational programming that is vital to the education, safety and social development of at-risk children in the Fox Chapel School District. It's been a privilege to have the opportunity to share our Monday evenings with these kids, many who have worked their way into our hearts.  

Our ultimate goal is to nurture the survival and growth of our community's children in order to drive long-term behavior change. Each child goes home at the end of each class with a recipe booklet and groceries to reproduce the same meal for their family during the week.  The following week, the kids are always so excited to tell us what they did with the ingredients.  Some make the same meal, or part of it, while other's might mentionthe best meatloaf that their mom made with the ground turkey!  The whole idea is to get them cooking with their families.

Each semester of cooking class ends with a large family dinner, or pop-up dinner as some of the kids like to refer to it, where the kids come and set the tables, help to prep and cook the food, and proudly serve their families and friends.  They walk away from the dinner with a sense of pride and accomplishment that will help to form their choices in the future.

While we have many tools to work with at La Dorita, the children lack basic cooking supplies in their homes that would allow them to be able to continue to hone their cooking skills.  Gastón and I would love to be able to finish off our Spring semester by sending each child home with the following supplies we feel will help them on their healthy eating journey.  

1.  Ninja Supra Kitchen System, BL780 ($150)
2.  Hand Mixer ($25)
3.  6" Chef's Knife ($20)

Any donations would help, and would make a world of difference for these children!  

Thanks, Josephine