STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
There’s a new way to meet your neighbor: Over lunch at the Community Kitchen Table.
Students from Wood River High School and Sun Valley Community School will serve up tilapia the Community School students have been raising in their greenhouse from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 8, at the Country Chalet neighborhood near The Meadows south of Ketchum.
Lunch is free and there will be music and games for the kids, as well as an opportunity to learn about vaccination efforts and other things going on in the valley.
“It’s another way of bringing the community together—in this case, a mobile kitchen,” said Herbert Romero, founder of ProjecT.O.O.L.S. for Success.
The young people are leading the charge with the help of leaders such as Calysta Phillips, Service Learning and Community Connections coordinator at Sun Valley Community School, and Noah Koski, a facilitator with Flourish Foundation. They’re able to provide it free, thanks to donations by such groups as WOW, Power Engineers, Albertsons, Markets and the Building Thrift Supply Store, which is donating a food trailer.
Students launched the Community Kitchen Table during an Earth Day celebration this past week at Balmoral Park, with students like Isabelle Thompson and Eduardo Escalera-Ramirez serving up hamburgers they cooked on the grill.
Future stops will include The Meadows and Suntree.
“It’s a diverse group of kids putting this on—girls, boys, Spanish, Anglo,” said Romero. “It’s not all about food but the social connection that we need more of now that people are little by little feeling more comfortable being out.”
“I think it’s a great idea to ring community together,” said Isabelle Thompson, a student at Sun Valley Community School.
Mari Jose Gonzales agreed.
After all the things we’ve been through, we need this,” she said. “This is helping the community and I love that.”
Tammy Eaton Davis, who runs the Crisis Hotline said she is excited about the new venture.
“It’s a great way to come back to the dinner table,” she said. “As a child, that was the most important part of our day.”