We train young adults to prepare nutritious meals on a limited budget. To showcase their training, these student volunteers prepare and serve meals once a week to anyone in the Grinnell community, no questions asked.
Our Story
When a derecho hit Grinnell, Iowa in August of 2020, Kamal Hammouda and Laura Fendt of Relish restaurant found themselves with an excess of perishable foods. Rather than dump it and claim it as a business loss, they chose to cook it and give it away. For ten days, they served as many as 110 meals a day, with World Central Kitchen (an NGO based in Washington, D.C.) helping them defray some of the cost. Seeing such a profound amount of hunger in their own community inspired them to form The Iowa Kitchen.
What We Do
The Iowa Kitchen centers on education and food distribution. The educational component (coming in 2022) will be geared toward young adults, high school to college-age, getting ready to make their way in the world. It will teach them how to cook for themselves and others, nutritiously and on a budget. The community meal distribution began in February 2021 and has continued every week since. The number of meals served each week have ranged from as few as four to as many as 70, with all leftover food donated to MICA or frozen and served during the following week.
Who We Are
The Iowa Kitchen is overseen by its seven-member board of directors: Pete Brownell, Samy Elbaroudi, Lilli Morrish, Amy Skouson, Richelle Mahaffey (treasurer), Laura Fendt (secretary), and Kamal Hammouda (president).
How to Help
The Iowa Kitchen was established in April 2021 and received its 501(c)(3) non-profit designation in October 2021. Thus far, the cost of the meals has been borne by Relish, the restaurant that hosts The Iowa Kitchen, but we need to raise funds to sustain the program. We have no paid employees, so all donated funds will go toward meals for the Grinnell community.
