Zara holding a picture of Maggie Faralla.

Zara Southard, the new owner of Maggies Cakes, is making client birthday cupcakes for us.  She is following in the footsteps of her mentor, and past Kitchen Angels volunteer, Maggie Faralla, who passed away quite suddenly in December 2014. Zara is donating her time and talent to make sure our homebound clients know we're thinking of them on their birthdays. She's doing this in honor of Maggie...and what an honor it is. Thank you Zara!



You may be interested to find out that there are people who spend a lot

Look out for Hawaiian cuisine trends in 2016!

of time trying to predict what the latest food trends are going to be. Like fashion and color forecasting, the sooner you catch the latest wave, the cooler you will appear to others. While some of us tend to prefer new twists on traditional fare, for the adventurous, click here for the 16 Food Trends That will Take 2016 by Storm. It's easy to see how some of these may well be on a path to greatness, whereas others may be more challenging to figure out. Here's last year's list of 10 Food Trend Predictions for 2015.

We always welcome new volunteers! Here are our current opportunities:

• Monday Driver, Route  3 (S. Capital/Alto St.)
• Monday Driver, Route 6 (Miguel Chavez)
• Tuesday Driver, Route 16 (Airport Rd./Jaguar Dr.)
• Wednesday Driver, Route 8 (Mid Airport Rd.)
• Wednesday Driver, Route 13 (Rufina St.)
• Thursday Driver, Route 3 (S. Capital/Alto St.)
• Friday Driver, Route 10 (N. St. Francis Dr.)
• Friday Driver, Route 12 (Pacheco Rd.)
• Friday Driver, Route 17 (S. St. Francis Dr.)

Upcoming Volunteer Orientations

 

Wednesday, January 6th from 11:00 - 1:00

Wednesday, January 20th from 11:00 - 1:00

 

Please tell people who may be interested to call Lauren at 471-7780    

 

 

Special Volunteer Opportunity...

 

Have you heard? Kitchenality is officially OPEN! Come see the beautiful (and useful) kitchen and entertainment items for sale in the store. We are seeking volunteers to work in the shop for a 3 1/2 hour shift, once a week. The shop currently has limited hours: Wednesday through Saturday from 11 AM - 5:30 PM. If you or someone you know is interested in helping us staff Kitchenality, please email or call the office 471-7780. Thanks!  

January is the time when many of us make resolutions and, while we usually work hard at them, all too often we burn out before the month's end. Have you ever wondered why it's so difficult to put good intentions into practice and keep them going? Here's a great little article on 10 Ways to make your New Years Resolutions Stick. There's some research behind many of the suggestions. Check it out, and let us know if any of these tricks work!





Once again, the cold and flu season is in full swing, and some are questioning whether or not to get a flu shot this year. Last year's flu shot was only about 13% effective due to a mutation in one of the strains of flu, but experts are predicting greater efficacy this year. Here's an informative article out of the AARP Magazine that gives tips on how to arm yourself against colds and flu. If you're not sure which illness is on the horizon, check out the handy chart. And remember, be sure to stay home if you notice any of these symptoms creeping up on you.

If you don't usually get a flu shot, there are ways you can reduce your risk of contracting the virus. Most of them are no-brainers, such as washing your hands often and getting plenty of rest and exercise. You can read the the full list of preventative measures on WebMD. 

Don C. delivers meals to Forrest every Tuesday. Thanks Don!

When clients call to let us know what our services mean to them, it really brings our mission home. We've gotten many lovely words of gratitude lately, like the following from Forrest R. "I'm so impressed by the gifts you delivered tonight! I have a collection of 2,000 sombreros and I am happy, happy, happy to donate any time you need something. The gifts were just fabulous. They made me feel so good. I was so surprised. They are so heart-warming, I was driven to just cry . . . You are doing such great work! You're so surprising, so special in my life."




A great big round of applause and gratitude goes out to every single one of the kind, generous volunteers who donated their time in 2015! You've done it all - donating food, washing, prepping, assembling, cooking, roasting, packaging, coordinating, delivering, and participating in special events and committees. What an amazing group of people you all are and so many of you go above and beyond. You see what needs to be done and jump right in. We hope that you each experience the miracle of volunteering: receiving far more than you felt you gave.