Kitchen Angels   |    1222 Siler Road  Santa Fe, NM  87507   |    505.471.7780
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JULY 2017
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Thank you for your on-going dedication and support of Kitchen Angels and the community of Santa Fe.

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VOLUNTEER
MILESTONE
ANNIVERSARIES

1 Year
Barbara Shoemaker
Rob Lipscomb
Susan Arkell

  5 Years
Margarita Brandes

10 Years

Stephanie Gonzales

15 Years 
Susan Gunst 

IN MEMORIAM


Celebrating the lives of our volunteers and clients


Larry Beer

Randal P.
John S.  

"Summer afternoon-summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." 
                            -  Henry James
AnnouncementsAnnouncements

The start of our building renovation project is nearly here! We
SFCCC's commercial-grade kitchen is where we will re-locate for several months.
hope to shift our operations beginning July 17. That means the kitchen will move to the  Santa Fe Community Convention Center, and delivery will continue to stage from our Siler Road location, but from another entrance.

We still have quite a bit of preparation to do before that time. One of our biggest tasks is ensuring we have enough volunteers scheduled for the various task shifts. We still need more people to sign up for the kitchen. Even if you can't do an entire four-hour shift or commit to every week, please email Lauren and let her know what you can do and when. Chances are good that the kitchen shift won't actually last a full four hours, but we need to plan for every scenario. After the first few weeks in the new location, we'll know better our needs and the time commitments that are required.
Jocelyn & Paula loading client meal bags

We are also in need of meal distribution volunteers. They will greet the delivery drivers and bring their meal bags out to their vehicles on a cart. This is also a fun and easy way to get some additional exercise and meet some very kind people.

We want to keep all of our volunteers engaged during this transition period. If you don't know how you might fit in, please contact Lauren and she will be happy to speak with you further. Thanks so much!

Pink Martini tickets are still on sale through AMP Concerts, but the chances are good that this concert will sell out. There are approximately 1,000 tickets left and 1,300 have been sold! This will be a very special event, celebrating our 25th anniversary. The views at the Santa Fe Opera House are spectacular and the music is always divine. Bring a picnic - plenty of folks will be tailgating that evening. We hope to see you there!   


Camp Corazones is a summer camp for children and their families affected by HIV and AIDS. They're looking for volunteer counselors, and particularly males, for this year's camp, July 12 - July 16.

Located outside of Santa Fe, the camp is an all-volunteer, grassroots, community based organization.  The planning, organizing, and funding for the camp is guided by a core of dedicated volunteers.  Volunteer counselors will stay overnight with the campers and guide them through a variety of daily activities.  For more information about the camp, click here. You can also learn more by contacting Elizabeth Sanchez.
Tasty TidbitsTastyTidbits

Fourth of July barbecues are not to be missed, but have you heard what's happening on July 6th? It's National Fried Chicken Day! Fried chicken is a treat to be indulged in every now and again, just to remind yourself how utterly delicious it is. 

Just about everyone knew someone who was the master of frying chicken in a deep cast iron skillet.  Even if you never learned the proper technique, the internet can tell you everything you need to know. Nearly every recipe claims to be the "best", so here are a few samplings to choose from:  Rosemary-Brined Buttermilk Fried ChickenSouthern Living's Best Fried Chicken recipe is simple with no bells or whistles; and this one's Triple Dipped for extra crispiness. Which fried chicken do you swear by?

Whatever you do, don't make one of the  7 most common mistakes when frying chicken. If you're going to the trouble, then might as well do it right! Enjoy.



The summer solstice has arrived, and with it, soaring temperatures. Sometimes the only thing you can do is throw open the windows, turn on a fan, and sip something cool and refreshing. Need some new drink ideas because your brain has turned to mush in the heat? Here's a list of 40 Cool Drink Ideas for a Hot Day
Volunteer OpportunitiesVolunteerOpportunities 

We always welcome new volunteers! Here are our current opportunities:
  • Monday Driver, Route 3 (N. on Cerrillos Rd.)
  • Monday Driver every other week, Route 18 (Agua Fria)
  • Tuesday Driver, Route 9 (Alta Vista)

Upcoming Volunteer Orientations

 

Kitchen Angels will be suspending our normally scheduled orientations during renovation. Please contact Lauren at 471-7780 if interested in delivery or other training.  

 

New Volunteer Opportunities...

 
As we enter into Phase One of our renovations, several new volunteer tasks have been created. We are currently recruiting several volunteers for each shift. If you'd like more information, don't hesitate to speak with Lauren about the details. Sign-up sheets are in the kitchen near the lockers. You can always sign-up by emailing Lauren directly.

Delivery Room Preparation 
There is some flexibility as to when this task can be done. So far, we're looking at 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM. If enough people are interested in moving the time to earlier in the day, that's possible as well. We can even have it at different times on different days. The shift should last approximately one hour.

Volunteers will be responsible for setting up paper grocery bags, and stapling on client delivery slips. On Tuesdays, volunteers will load packages of pet food into the grocery bags. Tasks will also include compiling meal counts for each route. If you've worked in our kitchen before and are familiar with our dot color coding system, this might be a good task for you.

Meal Distribution
Volunteers arrive at 4:00 PM, greet drivers, ask them what route number they deliver, and collect their thermal bag. They'll then communicate with the delivery coordinators and wait for them to fill the order and place it on a cart. Volunteers will wheel the cart out to the driver's car and help load the bag into their vehicle. This shift would run from 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM. On the off chance a driver does not show up, the route bags will be distributed and volunteers will deliver to the remaining clients. This is the perfect job for friendly people who don't mind walking back and forth a bit.

Continuing EducationContinuingEducation  

New volunteers often comment about how smoothly Kitchen Angels runs, likening it to a "well oiled machine." This has taken years of work and many brilliant minds have contributed along the way. Staff, Board members, and volunteers have all made improvements over the years and we now have very efficient processes in place. But that's only part of it. 



As we start our renovation project and begin creating new processes, it becomes increasingly clear that a big part of why we've been successful has to do with people's positive attitudes and willingness to figure out how best to simply "do what it takes." When you hear someone speak kindly of another, focus on the good in life, and express hope for the future, it's contagious. 

There is much diversity among the people who come through our doors and Kitchen Angels volunteers are able to put aside any differences in the name of a shared higher purpose. It's not always easy to keep a positive outlook, and when we do, it lifts everyone's spirits and gives us all hope. Here are some simple, yet powerful, methods for becoming more positive, brought to you by Psychology Today.    

Another thing that binds our volunteers together is their commitment to helping others. Volunteers make time, show up, learn new skills, exhibit patience, reach out with a smile, and look for what needs to be done. 

We realize how busy life can be, and that many of us are contributing to multiple causes. That makes it all the more notable when people are willing to adjust their routines and schedules just to accommodate the changes life throws at them. Click here for some excellent examples of what flexible thinking looks like. Here's another very useful article on one woman's process of developing flexibility of mind through noticing rigidity, and then adjusting her perspective until it shifts to curiosity and openness. 



During our renovation, some of you may feel displaced, hard pressed, pushed out of your comfort zone, or inconvenienced in some way. Change isn't always easy, but it is necessary in this case. The number of people needing our services grows year by year. In order to continue offering our services to the Santa Fe community, we need to expand our facility. 

Thank you in advance for your patience, good humor and willingness to remain flexible.  And thank you all for traveling with us on this journey of expansion.
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! Thanks 

Once upon a time , there wasn't a Kitchen Angels.  As Tony D'Agostino, one of the founders of Kitchen Angels, wrote in a recent letter, the reason to create Kitchen Angels was to "be there for the unseen, unknown homebound neighbors who might be alone" or who had exhausted their support systems.  In the early 1990s, there were very few meal-related options for people who were homebound and chronically or terminally ill.   "In a nutshell, we 
started Kitchen Angels to do good, to be angels in the community . . . to bring food, love and comfort to those were were sick and homebound with little or no support of their own.  To transform our community by example . . . by being people who care enough to volunteer and to be of service to our neighbors in need." 

It's been more than a quarter of a century since Kitchen Angels began and it's clear that the vision Tony and the other founders shared is still just as valid today as it was back then.  And it's also clear that one of the reasons we can continue doing the good work we do is because our volunteers share that vision and the belief that, together, we can make huge differences in people's lives.

Thank you Tony.  And thank you to our staff, Board, donors, and volunteers. You make it all happen!
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Estelle Miller is part of a group called Santa Fe Hadassah. They are American Jewish women who volunteer and raise money for community programs. 

Estelle heard about Kitchen Angels and the good work we do and had a wonderful idea. She reached out to her organization and invited the women to gather kitchen items to donate to Kitchenality. She asked them all to go through their cupboards and find kitchen wares they no longer used. They assigned a person to help collect all of the items, then they made one large donation to Kitchenality. This is such a great idea for groups who want to help, but are short on time or funds. 

Thank you Estelle and Santa Fe Hadassah, for helping Kitchen Angels in this way!



This is an exciting time for Kitchen Angels, as we expand our facility, and our reach to homebound people in our area. 

We've had so many people working together to help realize this dream - from all who donated during the Spreading Our Wings capital campaign, to those on the contingency and building committees who are hard at work behind the scenes, planning for necessary changes. 

Thank you to the volunteers who are stepping up to make sure shifts are covered. 

Many thanks also to the staff who have been meeting each week since the beginning of the year to iron out details. Thanks to our Board members, especially Board president Elva Busch who is attending more meetings that we can count. Volunteers Ron Wieneke and Bob Catherwood have helped keep us organized and on schedule. A heartfelt word of thanks to our fearless leader- Tony McCarty, whose vision for Kitchen Angels has steered us safely for the past 24 years. 

And while we couldn't possibly thank everyone who has had a hand in making the renovation a reality, please know that this is a massive team effort. We're blown away with how many people are stepping forward to assist us through the project. Great things are happening!
Kitchen Angels | 505-471-7780 | info@kitchenangels.org | http://www.kitchenangels.org
1222 Siler Road
Santa Fe, NM 87507