Announcing our newest core program—Cooking Matters!

We're partnering with national nonprofit Share Our Strength to present the newest addition to our programming lineup.

Cooking Matters is a nationally sponsored program designed to equip families and adults in low-income households with hands-on cooking and nutrition skills. We will be partnering with host sites in our community to hold 20 or more 6-week courses in 2012!

The courses give adults, families, and teens the confidence and skills that are needed to budget, shop for, and prepare healthful meals and snacks at homewhile keeping the costs as low as possible.

Each week comes with a bag of groceries and a recipe so that participants can practice making the foods they learned in class. Classes throughout the course come with other great items and rewards, and graduates receive a certificate during the 6th week graduation celebration.

Classes are led by volunteer culinary and nutrition professionals, as well as a volunteer Course Assistant and a Course Coordinator from Local Matters.

Cooking Matters fills a gap in our programming— the need for adult education. While we currently do Lunch and Learns, Brown Bag Lunches and various other one-time education events for adults, we've never had a comprehensive program specifically aimed at the adult population.

So far we've discovered an enormous popularity and enthusiasm for these courses, and will be teaching our first course starting at the end of February!

We've officially partnered with CDCFC Head Start and the Broad Street Food Pantry, and we're excited to have many other interested partners. 

We are also looking for volunteers, especially from the culinary and nutrition/dietetics fields. If you have professional experience and/or at least two years of schooling in either of those fields, consider signing up to be a volunteer. If you don't have professional experience but are interested in volunteering as a course assistant, please fill out our general volunteer form.

This latest addition to our programming will strengthen the work that Local Matters does in our community, and we couldn't be more excited to get started!