Funded Dec 4, 2021I want to apologize in the delay in sending out this thank you letter to all our donors for the Bronx Hope cooking program. 2021-2022 was a particularly difficult year; right as we received our cooking supplies in late December, my father passed away from COVID, and our program was delayed in getting going due to my absence handling his affairs. However, upon receiving our supplies, our student inspiration for the program, K.J. reviewed and inventoried all our supplies and we did accomplish several cooking projects during the remainder of the school year. Students were intrigued to hear how a seed idea could come to life through the charity of donors.
The social skills emphasized through the cooking groups are collaboration, taking healthy risks, exploring new foods/combinations, and developing leadership skills. While the goal is to have fun, students are also engaged with hands on learning that teaches them academic skills, as well as about themselves. Students have learned about safe food handling, nutrition labels, and measuring ingredients to make basic foods. Learning how to double or minimize a recipe requires fractions and an understanding of percent to understand daily nutritional intake. A few projects have involved researching the origins of recipes, discussing how adding one ingredient can add more protein (we love our muscles!), and how to choose and clean our fruits and vegetables. In our spring debut in 2022, we have made ice cream, grilled cheese, peanut butter banana sandwiches, and smoothies. In October 2022, we made quesadillas to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month, and we look forward to many more fun sessions!
What's Next? We hope to expand the cooking group to greater frequency and to add more groups in the building. We also recently received funding for a hydroponics program, so we are looking to add in some healthy recipes with foods from our garden. We are looking to expand into afterschool and eventually to expand into a larger kitchen area!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Lynn