LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A free cooking class at the Hazelwood Community Center in Louisville is teaching residents how to prepare meals using items from Dare to Care food boxes when those ingredients are all they have.
The class was hosted Thursday by the nonprofit Mammaw Sandy’s Kitchen.
Organizers said the goal is to help people make more complete meals from the food they receive through food boxes.
“I also hope they walk home with the knowledge that whatever’s in that box, they can create something with and it might be better than just opening a can of peaches or opening up a can of green beans and eating that,” said Alayna Johnston, executive director and founder of Mammaw Sandy’s Kitchen. “There is sustenance in those boxes.”
Thursday’s class focused on homemade granola bars.
Marie O’Bryan, of Louisville, attended to learn about healthy, budget-friendly meals and connect with others.
“Stretching my budget, my food budget is so hard,” O’Bryan said. “So, I’ve been using Dare to Care foods for a little bit and after you try, you have the same old foods over and over again. So, I’m really interested in learning something new.”
John Doerhoefer, a volunteer helping fill food boxes, said he knows what it is like to need those resources.
He said he has been homeless twice in his life and has received food boxes himself.
“It’s hard to find resources to help,” Doerhoefer said. “But also, I went to Goodwill on East Broadway and they helped me get a job and everything.”
Doerhoefer said it can be difficult to know how to prepare some food box items, especially without access to a stove.
“It’s just different things that you can make,” he said. “There’s some things that’s hard, you know you can’t make unless you have a stove or whatever.”
The Hazelwood Community Center hosts a food pantry every Thursday from 2 to 5 p.m.
Destiny Daniels, the center’s director, said the need in the community is great.
Daniels said the center prepares 168 food boxes each week and usually gives out about 175.
She said cost, availability and transportation are challenges for people in the area.
“There’s not that many grocery stores in the area,” Daniels said. “Especially with the Kroger closing on South Third Street, that put a limitation and now with TARC changing their bus system, cut out Kroger and Walmart down New Cut [Road] so we’re limited to what’s available here in the area.”
Doerhoefer plans to keep volunteering to help as many fellow Kentuckians as possible.
“The more wisdom and courage I can show, it helps other people to have the strength to do the same,” he said.
Another class is scheduled for Sept. 11, when participants will learn how to cook a dessert using food box ingredients, including peaches.
More information about the cooking classes is available on the Mammaw Sandy Facebook page.
Dining and Cooking