Shelbourne Community Kitchen

Overview

The Shelbourne Community Kitchen project is a collaborative effort from a diverse number of community partners including businesses, faith groups, community groups, other organizations, and individual residents. Informal meetings and discussions between these various stakeholders throughout 2012 culminated with the creation of the Shelbourne Community Kitchen in 2013. The partner organizations are comprised of the Lutheran Church of the Cross, St. Aidan’s United Church, St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Mount Tolmie Community Association, and Camosun Community Association.

The purpose of the Shelbourne Community Kitchen will be to provide community support through a neighbourhood resource centre for people lacking adequate and healthy food. The Kitchen will work with people from the community to prepare and share nutritious meals together. The Kitchen’s goal is to foster community connectedness between participants and staff/volunteers. The Kitchen serves to provide more than a bag of groceries to those who need food support. It will provide a place of belonging as well as food.

Small groups of 8-10 people will cook healthy meals together, then enjoy eating their meal together, followed by cleaning up together and taking meals home to their families. There will be a distribution of food vouchers, a food pantry, opportunities to work in the food garden, and access community resource information. Spiritual support will also be available to help respond to larger and deeper concerns for any participants who request it.

The program is intended to educate participants on healthy and economical food choices and preparation. Using some of the foods that are typically received from a food pantry, participants will gain new ideas about how to prepare delicious, nutritious meals on a budget.

Mount Tolmie
updated 04/2015 by Mount Tolmie