COLUMBIA COUNTY RECOVERY KITCHEN
Prepares to celebrate our first year of extraordinary service to the food insecure
Phone 518 929-7528
Columbiacountyrecoverykitchen.org
Contact: Carole Clark carole.s.clark@hotmail.com
RECOVERY KITCHEN was founded on April 13, 2020 in response to the profound food insecurity spreading across Columbia County in the wake of the pandemic that was ramping up to shut down the world. We are celebrating a one-year milestone as we continue to deliver meals, Tuesday through Friday, across the wide swath that is Columbia County.
Initially Recovery Kitchen was the brain child of Carole Clark who had been in the restaurant biz for decades, but she was quickly joined by a bevy of chefs, organizers, farmers and drivers creating, scheduling and delivering hundreds of meals every week.
Six weeks after lockdown began, RECOVERY KITCHEN was up and running and Clark was joined by co-founders Pam Kline and Carol Peckham. The first week they served 200 free meals. This all happened because of the vigorous, dedicated help of an army of volunteers. Chef Jamie Parry from Swoon and John Carr, the chef from Le Perche, headed up the cooking. Two local churches, Christ Church Episcopal and First Presbyterian, offered a kitchen and a non-profit fiscal umbrella, so that RECOVERY KITCHEN could raise funds to help purchase take-out containers, buy fresh food and eventually pay Chef Parry. Many farmers joined the effort including Churchtown Dairy, Camphill Copake, Roxbury Farm, Hawthorne Valley Creamery, Grow in Harmony Community Garden and Paden Farm. Local businesses also helped including Trevellyan.Biz, Applestone Meat, Le Perche Bakery, Best Graphic Design, Gaskins Restaurant, and TL at Home.
RECOVERY KITCHEN initially found food insecure individuals and children through referrals from Social Service agencies, Columbia County Sanctuary Movement and local schools. Now, we have expanded to include a policy of self-referral with sign up sheets in doctors’ offices, food pantries and the Salvation Army. As ever, all potential recipients are carefully vetted.
On April 13 RECOVERY KITCHEN chefs will be baking cupcakes for our 89 stalwart volunteer drivers, 14 food organizers, schedulers and kitchen staff to celebrate our big, first birthday. We are honoring the effort it took to cook and deliver 30,262 meals during the last year. According to founder Clark, “It felt like a charmed endeavor; it seemed as if everyone I encountered or made requests to, said YES!”
Currently RECOVERY KITCHEN is delivering nearly 1000 amazing meals, four days a week to people with food insecurity across 32 towns, the City of Hudson and four homeless shelters in Columbia County. RECOVERY KITCHEN is committed to continue to serve food insecure Columbia County residents even beyond the abatement of the COVID 19 scourge, as hunger is a ubiquitous issue. Please join us in sharing good news, community activism stories that we believe readers and listeners are hungry for.
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