Something positive has been happening in Eugene. It’s a collective impact project which brings seriously ill patients together with teens, chefs and fresh, nutritious food. The idea was originally sparked by high school students in response to the tragic deaths of two classmates on the Oregon Coast. Positive Community Kitchen has now been preparing “meals that heal” for over a decade.
In an incubator kitchen space on Shelton McMurphey Boulevard in Eugene, a dozen volunteers of all ages don hair nets and gloves. Some are washing pots and pans. Others chop, stir and blend ingredients to go into today’s nutritionally designed meals. Executive Director Christine Richman steps aside from the kitchen cacophony to explain the genesis of this project.
“Positive Community Kitchen was formed as the result of a tragic incident on the Oregon Coast (in 2011) when a sneaker wave took the lives of two students at South Eugene High School,” she said. “You can imagine what a tragic and impactful occurrence that was. And there was such an outpouring of grief and yet the community and South Eugene wanted to do something with all that energy and that grief.”
Healing begins here
Richman recalled that first, they formed a courtyard garden and SEH parent Wendy Strgar helped found the Positive Change Club. In 2013, that evolved into a kitchen, adopting concepts from the Ceres Project, based in Sonoma, California. This, said Richman, is where healing could continue.
“We follow a “food is medicine” recipe so that everything that we make is organic and gluten free and tailored for the most nutrition possible in each bite,” she said.
Richman said they prepare enough locally sourced food to make 3 to 4 medically tailored meals for about 100 clients, and their families, each week.
“All the meals that we make are delivered via volunteers-- at no charge-- to community members who are going through a serious health challenge,” Richman said. “Most of those community members are cancer patients.”
Katie Hamilburg is a trained chef—she attended Cambridge Culinary School of the Arts. But here, she has another title: Kitchen manager.
When planning the menus for Positive Community Kitchen, Hamilburg said it’s important to make sure the food is delicious while incorporating as much nutrition as possible into each morsel, “because many of our clients have very little appetite if they’re going through cancer treatment, so we just try to make every bite count.”
Medically tailored meals
Hamilburg starts walking around the kitchen pointing out cooking stations. “Today we have multiple pieces of our menu in the works. I have Dale at the stove and he’s working on a tomato, eggplant and chickpea stew. And that looks and smells like it’s coming along…”
Retiree Dale Mostkoff spends two days a week making healthy meals for people he’s never met. “I’m the ‘onion whisperer.’ I chop onions.”
Mostkoff said he doesn't weep when he chops onions. That may or may not be why he's been helping out with Positive Community Kitchen for three years.
Asked if there’s one thing he gets out of it, Mostkoff is quick to answer: “Probably the satisfaction of helping other people. I like it.”
Moving toward a prep table, the chef acknowledges three volunteers who are working on corn and zucchini fritters. Instead of frying, they'll bake them for a heathier option.
At another table, Susan Isaacs is diligently cutting young green beans—a donation from a local gardener. Isaacs has been helping prepare meals here for over a year.
“It’s quite fun. I don’t have to worry because it’s guilt free cooking,” she laughed.
Isaacs intimately knows just who will appreciate these meals.
“Absolutely! People living with a life-threatening illness," Isaacs said. "That’s how I first found out about Positive Community Kitchen, I was leading a group for people with cancer. And a number of them got meals and then I went through cancer treatment. And it’s just a great program. Also, I love mentoring the kids.”
A learning kitchen
Then, Isaacs shot a smile at Timothy Trojan, a teen volunteer.
“I go to school at South Eugene High School," Trojan said. "I was introduced to the Positive Community Kitchen through my teacher and my sister, who volunteered here a while ago, I came in with very little kitchen experience, I knew basically nothing at all, and I picked up a lot of skills about cooking, cooking in large batches. But, also just eating healthy.”
Clover Cilley Priem volunteered as a teen with Positive Community Kitchen. Now, she’s the Kitchen Program Coordinator. One of her jobs is to write up descriptions of the meals, with lists of ingredients and nutritional benefits from vitamins, pigments, compounds, fiber. Cilley Priem said the printed “Nutrition Bite” is hand- delivered with every meal.
“We have our wonderful ‘delivery angels,’" she said. "They pick up the food, take it in their cars, and they have a delivery route.”
Positive Community Kitchen is a “learning kitchen,” so volunteers with all levels of culinary know-how are welcome. The nonprofit has five paid staff members and reports thousands of hours donated by hundreds of volunteers each year. Contributions maintain the year-round meal delivery project.
The meals are made with support from a network of local farmers and gardens. Positive Community Kitchen collaborates with Eugene 4-J School District, Connected Lane County, FOOD for Lane County, numerous health care providers and others.
Chef Katie Hamilburg said all of this is really about creating community through the kindness of strangers. She believes that just knowing someone out there truly cares can help the healing process.
And, as for the meals?
“Our secret ingredient," Hamilburg said, "is a lot of love.”
