Food for Thought
The Newsletter of Women's & Children's Free Restaurant
February, 2011
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Upcoming Events
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March 14, 4 - 6 PM, WCFR
Guest Chef Dinner featuring Romeo Herrera of Catered for You (pictured below at A Little Night Music.)
March 28, 5:30 PM, WCFR
Volunteer Appreciation Dinner
April 11, 4 - 6 PM, WCFR
Guest Chef Dinner
May 7, 11:30 AM, The Lincoln Center, Spring Tea. Table Captains are needed. Please contact Karen Orlando if you want to be a table captain - 324-1995, ext. 300 or by email at volunteer@wcfrspokane.org.
From left, Chef Karen and prep cooks Nancy, Patty & Margaret from our first Guest Chef Dinner.
Executive Director, Marlene Alford (second from right) with guests from Miriam's House.
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Greetings! | 
Have you enjoyed a good bowl of soup this month? At the Restaurant, it is something many of our ladies look forward to after they've walked or taken the bus to get here. We enjoy trying a variety of soups and the creativity of Chef Karen and our prep cooks knows no bounds!
Speaking of soup, the 6th Annual Souper Bowl was completed on February 6th at Mt. Spokane. 225 ladies participated and all proceeds raised were donated to WCFR. We are so grateful to the group of gals who organize this event. They don't belong to any particular group - they have created this event to provide some fun in the snow on Superbowl Sunday. WCFR provides soup and other goodies. It is an important winter fundraiser for us - the largest one of the season! Thank you to the organizers:
Genevieve Mann
Karen Cross Momany
Cindy Green
Karn Nielson
Julie Goltz
Thank you also to the Souper Bowl sponsors - Sterling Savings Bank, REI, Mountain Gear, Fitness Fanatics and Atlas Snowshoes.
Having regular funding, like the Souper Bowl is vital to us. It allows us to help women like T.K., one of our guests who wrote to us, "The Women's & Children's Free Restaurant means the world to me!...when I had lost my mind & was homeless, the WCFR was a haven and the meals have always been very good. Since I have suffered with mental health issues, this program has literally saved my life!...Today I am nearly out of food in my home...I've been ill for over 2 weeks and once again am being helped by the Friday food program - the food I received today will help me make it until I receive my food stamps ($56) and my social security disability check. Thank you Everyone! who gives of their time, energy, money, service and food."
As you read those words, I hope that you can see how your support of WCFR helped T.K. WCFR is an important community safety-net for people like her and other women and children in need.
We can't say thank you enough!
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Join us for our Guest Chef Dinners
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When was the last time you had fun eating a "healthy" meal?
WCFR would like to invite you to join us on the second Monday of every month as we invite a Guest Chef into our kitchen to focus on preparing healthy, delicious meals.
Our first Guest Chef Dinner was on February 14 and cooked by our very own Chef Karen. The Roasted Pork with apple chutney was a hit! And at 297 calories per serving it definitely qualified as "healthy."
Each month, a different chef will join us. In March, Chef Romeo Herrera of Catered for You will be here on March 14. His menu features:
Asian-style Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing
Pineapple Curry Chicken
Stir-fried Green Beans
Coconut Jasmine Rice
Haupia - a coconut custard over macadamia crust
While this series of dinners is intended for our regular guests, we hope other members of the community who are interested in learning some healthy recipes will join us as well. The Guest Chef series of dinners is funded by 2 grants: from the Community Building Foundation and from the Empire Health Foundation. These grants were funded, in part, so that WCFR could encourage the entire community to find new ways to eat better.
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Thank you Liz! Welcome Turina! | |
WCFR has been truly fortunate to have Liz Hogan as a member of our Board of Directors for the past 8 years. Liz has been a strong team player and has helped guide our organization through some amazing periods of growth. We wil miss her! as Development Director of Transitions, we will continue to cross paths often through our common goal of helping women and children in need. Thank you Liz!
We are pleased to welcome Turina McClelland to our Board of Directors. Turina is the Marketing Communication Specialist at Wagstaff Inc.
Her involvement began as she successfully chaired our promotion and marketing committee for our annual fall fundraiser.
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| ServSafe | |
Many of the guests who eat with us are children, elderly women, and people with disabilities or serious health situations. Food borne illnesses can be especially devastating to their tender immune systems. So food safety is imperative in our operation!
Thanks to a grant from the Greenstone Foundation, WCFR is able to train 10 prep cooks in ServSafe, a nationally recognized and accredited food safety program. Charlie Martin, culinary instructor at the Inland Northwest Culinary Academy at Spokane Community College will provide 12 hours of training. The training will cover these important topics:
- Food safety in preparation and storage
- Cross-contamination & food borne illness
- Time & temperature importance
- Cleaning & sanitation
All of these topics come into play everyday at WCFR's kitchen. There are no gray areas in food safety! With 10 prep cooks and Chef Karen trained at this level, we will continue our commitment to providing safe food.
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Our work couldn't be done without your support! If you enjoyed hearing our news and can support what we are doing, I hope you will please make a donation - just follow this link!
Sincerely,
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Marlene Alford
Women's and Children's Free Restaurant
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