COLUMBIA KITCHEN: GOOD FOOD FOR ALL
“We have a new name,” says Carole Clark, who with Pamela Kline and the late Carole Peckham founded the organization which started delivering 200 meals a week during the Pandemic and now serves 2000.”
The renaming was officially announced at the organization’s fifth anniversary celebration on July 17 at the Union Street Brewing Company. Over 150 supporters attended the event with music by the Russet Trio and hors d’oeuvres prepared by Columbia Kitchen chefs, Tommy Carlucci and Kathy Silliman
Founder Carole Clark announces new name
In announcing the name change, Clark said: “We had a vision in 2020, at that terrible moment when the world went quiet and it was clear that so many of our neighbors were in need. And you all jumped in with us – volunteers, chefs, drivers, farmers and friends to make all this happen.”
According to Jolene Race, Columbia Kitchen’s executive director: “While we are no longer responding to what we had hoped would be a short-term crisis, we are the same organization that is feeding county residents who cannot afford to feed themselves or their families regular and nutritious meals. It is clear that hunger remains a hidden but present issue in the county and is further under stress as a result of the threat of government cut backs.”
Columbia Kitchen is a growing organization, supported primarily by 105 volunteers who cook, pack, and deliver food and behind the scenes, help support the organization through grant writing, publicity and fundraising. Two chefs, an executive director, an executive assistant and a fiscal manager are the only paid employees. In season, most of the food is generously donated by local farms who provide produce, eggs, fish, meat and poultry. “We are committed,” says Clark,” to offering fresh, healthy, quality meals prepared from scratch, using, when possible, ingredients that come to us directly from the farm and producers.
The new identify was developed in collaboration with Friendly City Creative Club, a Hudson-based branding and design studio and specializes in community centered creative work.
