While many programs are quiet this summer, there are a lot of exciting things happening with Campus Kitchen! Every Monday and Thursday, Campus Kitchen students and staff work alongside the Loy Farm manager, Alyssa Adler, and Professor Steve Moore, to harvest produce from Loy Farm. The farm has been incredibly productive this summer producing hundreds of pounds of tomatoes, squash, kale, broccoli, onions, pepper, cucumbers, lettuce, and bok choy. Much of that produce is used in the cooking shifts on Tuesdays, but some is also delivered directly to Allied Churches of Alamance County. “I really enjoy that we get to work with the food we provide to the community, not only in the kitchen, but also through harvesting at Loy Farm. Seeing where the vegetables come from makes me feel very confident that the food we are serving is healthy,” said Campus Kitchen summer intern Paige Lucas.
Every Tuesday morning, student and staff volunteers arrive at 8:00am at Lakeside Dining Hall to cook between 200-250 nutritious and well-balanced meals for Allied Churches and Alamance County Community Service Agency senior sites. Due to the generosity of Elon Dining Services, Campus Kitchen has been able to recover and reuse leftover food to supplement Loy Farm produce and food purchased for the cooking shifts. The partnership with Aramark Dining Services allows Campus Kitchen to provide more food than would otherwise be possible.
At 10:50am all the pans are loaded up into a van and taken to Allied Churches were they are served immediately for lunch or are stored for a later date. Allied Churches has the largest lunch serving program in Alamance County. Volunteers help serve the food to community members. Danielle Holloway, a Kernodle Center Summer Intern, said that the delivery shift was, “Rewarding, but eye-opening to see all that goes into feeding a community, it really takes a village”
On Wednesdays, individually packaged meals are delivered to two Alamance County Community Service Agency sites including Graham Recreation Center and the John Roberts Senior Activity Center. Seniors are able to take home the meal. In addition, once a month students provide a nutrition presentation for the seniors.
If you are interested in learning more about Campus Kitchen please click here. If you are interested in getting involved feel free to email campuskitchen@elon.edu or sign up to volunteer. Allied Churches can always use volunteers to assist with sorting canned goods, volutneering in the pantry, or serving. If you are interested in volutneering please email bgraybeal@alliedchurches.org.