Kitchen Angels   |    1222 Siler Road  Santa Fe, NM  87507   |    505.471.7780
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FEBRUARY 2019
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Thank you for your on-going dedication and support of Kitchen Angels and the community of Santa Fe.

  KA Color Logo
VOLUNTEER
MILESTONE
ANNIVERSARIES

1 Year
Andrea Poole
Cathy Campbell
Liz Levine
Tom Pollard
5 Years
Gary Ferguson
Kate Drone
10 Years

Beverly Hafner
Gregory Hunt
IN MEMORIAM
Celebrating the lives of Kitchen Angels volunteers & clients
 
Forrest R.
 

"Keep your faith in beautiful things;  
in the sun when it is hidden,  
in the Spring when it is gone."  
                                                      -  Roy R. Gibson

AnnouncementsAnnouncements

Save the date...

We are grateful for our volunteers who are so very generous with their time and energy. Please join us at Hervé Wine Bar for a Volunteer Appreciation event on Sunday, March 3, 2019, from 3 to 5pm. Watch your email for the invitation with further details. 

We are happy to announce some changes in our Board of Directors this year.

Please welcome our newest Board member - Darrin Abby
Our newest board member - Darrin Abby
Darrin works with Los Alamos National Bank as a financial advisor. Darrin was born and raised in Northern California, moving to Santa Fe in 1997. Having a family member who required care for a number of years opened his eyes to the importance of support offered by communities, family, and friends when people are in need. He's very happy to support Kitchen Angels in our mission to help our homebound neighbors.

Our new Board president is Linda Dressman; vice president is  Ben Alaimo-Monson; treasurer is  Karen Wolfe-Mattison; and secretary is  Sarah Taylor. Thank you for taking on these roles!

We are saying farewell to past board president Elva Busch, and treasurer Ginny Selvin. Thank you both, for your service to our organization and community! We hope to continue seeing you at various volunteer shifts and events.


Each year, we like to assess our progress as a non-profit.  Last year, the board of directors gave us some goals to shoot for and we're please to announce that we met or exceeded those goals! They wanted us to grow the volunteer base by 20%, and it grew by 27%. We have more volunteers than ever - 785 last year, with approximately 300 coming through our doors each week. Take a look at the 2018 Volunteer Report to get more information about how volunteers fit into our organization.
Tasty TidbitsTastyTidbits

Valentine's Day is the perfect occasion to bust out your baking skills and bring a little sweetness into someone's life. Who wouldn't want to receive a box of homemade truffles or hea rt-shaped cookies?  Turns out, it's remarkably easy to make chocolate truffles from scratch and, provided you use top-notch ingredients, the results can be delectable. Here's a nice foolproof recipe from The Kitchn that you can whip up in less than an hour. While you're on The Kitchn website, be sure to check out their Video of the Day for meal inspiration!

If the path to your sweetie's heart is paved with cookies, then here's a fabulous collection from Delish of 20+ Valentine's Day Cookies That are Better than a Box of Chocolates. If red velvet anything is your cup of tea, then this is the list for you!

With the arrival of February, we're about half-way through winter's cold and flu season.  While many of us have escaped unscathed, for those who still may come down with something sniffle-y or worse, try this humble, yet comforting, remedy to help you through the worst - chicken soup. We're not talking the Campbell's soup variety, but the real deal. WebMD says that chicken soup "appears to help fight colds. It helps clear nasal congestion as well as thin mucus so you can better cough it up. In addition, research shows it may have a mild anti-inflammatory effect than can help ease symptoms." Not that you needed convincing, but it's nice to know that there's hard science and research behind the claim!

Now, on to the recipes...

This is a good place to start, especially if you're dragging yourself out of bed to make it yourself. It has onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and the herbs that work best. Simply use some organic broth for the best results.

Instant Pot chicken stock- easy, delicious, and good for you!
If you're ready to take it to the next level, then you'll want to make your own chicken stock. You might be wondering, what's the difference between stock and broth? The folks at FoodNetwork say, "chicken stock tends to be made more from bony parts, whereas chicken broth is made more out of meat. Chicken stock tends to have a fuller mouth feel and richer flavor, due to the gelatin released by long-simmering bones. Canned low-sodium chicken broth is the busy home-cook's best friend."  For more on the debate, and a good recipe for beef stock, click here.

For those of you with an Instant Pot, you have no excuse to not make homemade stock every week. Easy, delicious, and it's really good for your gut! This recipe is a lot like the stock that Lauren makes each week at home. Be sure to cook it on low pressure. If you eat a lot of soup, this will make enough for two big pots per week. 
Volunteer OpportunitiesVolunteerOpportunities 

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

Driver Coordinator Sub (3:30 - 5:30pm)
  • Tuesdays (March 12 through May 7)
 
Delivery Drivers (4:30 - 6:30pm)
  • Wednesday Driver, Route 8 (Mid Airport Rd.)
  • Thursday Driver, Route 7 (N. Rufina St.)
  • Thursday Driver, Route 11 (S. on Cerrillos Rd.)
  • Friday Driver, Route 1 (S. Rufina St.)
  • Friday Driver, Route 6 (Miguel Chavez)
  • Friday Driver, Route 8 (Mid Airport Rd.)

Kitchen Volunteers  

  • Monday PM shift (1pm - 3pm) 
  • Tuesday PM shift (1pm - 3pm)
  • Wednesday AM shift (10am -12pm)
  • Wednesday PM shift (1pm - 3pm)
  • Thursday PM shift (1pm - 3pm)

Substitute Volunteers

  • Delivery Subs M-F (4:30-6:30pm)
  • Delivery Prep M-F (2pm - 3:30pm)
  • Delivery Coordinators (3:30 - 5:30pm)

Upcoming Volunteer Orientations

 

Monday, February 4th from 11:30 - 1:00

Monday, February 18th from 11:30 - 1:00

 

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

 

Special Volunteer Opportunity...

 

  It seems like the years roll by faster and faster - and here we are again, seeking volunteers for Angels Night Out, which is changing its name to Angels Dine Out ! It will be held Thursday, April 25th. We need volunteer ambassadors. Last year, we recruited over one hundred people to serve as goodwill ambassadors in the restaurants. This is a huge part of our outreach, and many people hear about Kitchen Angels for the first time through the Angels Dine Out ambassadors. In addition, ambassadors bring in over 60% of the money we make through the event. Last year, that was over $46,000 in one day! We don't yet have a complete list of participating restaurants, but if you'd like to help with this important event, please email Lauren at llavail@kitchenangels.org. We will be circulating a sign-up sheet in the volunteer room later this month so take a look. 

 

 Thank you volunteers! 

Continuing EducationContinuingEducation  

FREE ONLINE TRAINING FOR DELIVERY DRIVERS

Kitchen Angels has a goal to bring more education opportunities to our volunteers. We've held three CPR, First Aid certification classes, which were filled to capacity. The more volunteers who know how to respond in a medical emergency, the better.


We also held a mental health first aid course that offered some great training - especially for delivery drivers who occasionally experience clients in crisis. Not many volunteer drivers attended, so we have a similar online course that you can now take from the comfort of your home, for free! It's geared toward first responders, but if you think about it, sometimes Kitchen Angels volunteers are the first on the scene. The online series of videos is 90 minutes long in total, and very informative. It aims to assist individuals faced with people experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, using safe and positive approaches. Click here for the Creating Safe Scenes Training Course. Simply click the continue button to access the free course, unless you'd like to take it to earn 1.5 CEUs. Please let us know if you decide to take advantage of this helpful course.

Being With Human Beings With Dementia

One of our partner organizations, Coming Home Connection, is offering a free person-centered training for volunteers, family members and caregivers of people living with dementia, Saturday, March 9, 2019, from 9AM to 3PM.  "Person-centered care" focuses on the unique person instead of the disease, and their capabilities rather than their lost abilities.  It helps change how we understand and respond to challenging behaviors associated with dementia and it encourages and empowers caregivers and others to understand the individual with dementia as someone who still possesses abilities, life experiences and relationships that can continue to contribute to their quality of life.  For more information and to register, call 505-988-2468 or email info@cominghomeconnection.org.

Easy Ways to Give

Finally, there are some easy ways that you can help raise money for Kitchen Angels without exerting much effort at all! Here are some suggestions... 
  1. Create a birthday fundraiser on Facebook. While in Facebook, type "Birthday Fundraiser" in the search box, then select Kitchen Angels as your non-profit of choice and follow their steps. 100% of the money raised goes to KA - no fees charged!
  2. When shopping on Amazon, enter through the Amazon Smile portal. They will ask which non-profit you want to receive a percentage of your purchase. Type in Kitchen Angels, then continue to shop. Same access to Amazon products, but we will receive a percentage of every dollar spent.
  3. For those of you who shop at Smith's, use your rewards card, and make sure it's linked to Kitchen Angels. We will receive a percentage of the amount you spend on groceries.
If each one of us assists in these small ways, we'll bring in thousands of dollars a year for our program. Thank you all for continuing to help us with our fundraising goals!
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! Thanks 

We are tremendously grateful for our Delivery Room Preparation teams. They are the unsung
The Monday Delivery Prep team:
Judy, Judy & Sharon
heroes of Kitchen Angels, and we want them to be seen and appreciated! Delivery Prep volunteers do some very detailed work. By route number, they compile the number and type of entrees that our clients are receiving each day. It's precise work that needs to be double and triple checked so that we don't make any errors. The teams also load most of the food into the clients' delivery bags, staple on client slips, and tidy up the delivery room. All of the work they do aids in streamlining the delivery process. Once they leave, the next team arrives and works off the entree checklists to fill each route's hot meal order. Thank you to Judy N., Judy W., Sharon B., Rick R., Barbara M., Tom V., Donald & Drinette E., Juliana L., Brenda S., Andrea P., Carol Ann K., and Bob M. You guys preform a critical job, and you do it very, very well!


One of our long term clients, Forrest R. died in the hospital over the weekend. The driver  contacted his brother, James, when Forrest didn't come to the door. His brother went over ASAP
Tom P., Thursday rte. 13
Lionel R., Monday rte. 13
and found him on the floor. Forrest died from complete organ failure on Sunday. When we spoke to James, he said "thanks for the generosity, kindness and compassion from you and your drivers, that you've shown him over the years." We often had to coordinate challenging aspects of Forrest's care which started as heart and lung issues compounded by Alzheimer's. James said the way we kept him in the loop allowed him to help Forrest and still allow him his own decision-making freedom. He said he hopes to be of service to us some point in the future. Thanks to our route #13 drivers for giving Forrest such good, quality care, and for keeping Kitchen Angels informed of Forrest's condition over the years.
Thank you Randy!

Last, but not least, February 4th is National Thank a Mail Carrier Day . We love our mail  carrier, Randy . He always greets us with a smile and doesn't mix our mail with the Food Depot's. "Through rain or snow, or sleet or hail, we'll carry the mail. We will not fail." Don't forget to give your mail carrier a big thank you, a friendly smile, a token of appreciation or find some way to let them know that they are appreciated.
Kitchen Angels | 505-471-7780 | info@kitchenangels.org | http://www.kitchenangels.org
1222 Siler Road
Santa Fe, NM 87507