Dear Supporters,

Dear Village Kitchen Supporters,

Thank you to all our enthusiastic friends who came out on Sunday to tackle the last of the cleaning and the start of the painting. It will be wonderful for the children to return to a bright and clean kitchen that has been transformed through the energy of many caring community members.

There is still so much to be done over the next week. Toña will be at school this Thursday from 3-6 and on Friday from 12 - 5 to finish the painting and to clean and put away all the materials donated and purchased by then. As we experienced on Sunday, many hands make light work. Please swing by Thursday or Friday during those hours to lend a hand if you are able.

A few of you have offered to help in the kitchen on the first few days of school. If you have time Tuesday, September 6th between 8:30 and 5:30, or Wednesday - Friday next week between 8:30 and 2:30, and you want to witness the launch of our amazing endeavor, please e-mail or call Stacey - staceygilligan@hotmail.com 541-913-9424.

We will be having our first volunteer training on Monday, September 12th at 8:30 am for community members who want to help in The Village Kitchen on a regular basis throughout the school year. Hopefully you are all able to come! If that date doesn't work for you, we will be holding a second training soon thereafter - date yet to be determined.

The Village Kitchen has set up a registry with Curtis Restaurant Equipment for folks who would like donate needed items! They are located at 555 Shelly St. in Springfield. Or- you can give them a call at 541-746-7480 to place your order and they will deliver it right to us! Their hours are M-F, 8-5. What an easy way to participate! This link will take you to our registry. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1pY-ZK1uZUtN2Q1MGMwODMtNGUxOC00YzU4LTg1NWMtNWE2MzVkZWM4ZTIw&hl=en

Official Press Release

Local K-8 Charter School joins National Movement by Cooking from Scratch and Serving Healthy Food to Students

Eugene, OR - Last week The Village School established a “scratch” kitchen and will provide students with meals that are cooked in the school’s kitchen with as many local, organic, whole and fresh foods as possible.

"We are thrilled to be given this opportunity. We hope to be a model and resource to other schools around Oregon." says Toña Aguilar one of the two new Meal Program Co-coordinators or as they like to say the “healthy lunch ladies.” Principal Bob Kaminski looks forward to the change, "This is perfect for the students. We can connect the school food program to our curriculum, the school garden and the local economy by working directly with Lane County farmers and businesses to supply us with ingredients."

The Village School is part of a national trend and will design a menu that uses organic milk, whole grains and more fruits and vegetables than is what is served in most schools around the country. They have decided to offer meat choices two days a week instead of daily but this has allowed them to source quality meat from a local rancher instead of frozen processed meat products from unknown sources.

This past year, the Eugene 4J School District cut all charter schools from its food service program. The Village School kitchen has only the basics - dishwasher, oven, two-burner stove, freezer, and refrigerator, but little else. The kitchen is in need of donations of commercial quality equipment, such as: serving utensils, pots, pans, energy efficient appliances and 200 school lunch trays. The staff have been working furiously to solicit donations from local businesses and organizations to prepare the kitchen for service in two weeks.

Organically Grown Company (OGC) knows that support from the community is essential to create a model program good for children and transferable to schools, and therefore OGC gave a $500.00 matching grant to help procure the materials and supplies to have a fully functioning commercial kitchen. Company owner Tom Lively said, "I’m excited about the Village School taking the HUGE step of bringing school lunch preparation back in house. No doubt this will be a big and challenging project.” Next The Eugene Coalition for Better School Food stepped up and gave $500 to The Village Kitchen. The first local restaurant to match the $500 challenge was Marché. There has also been one private donor that has done the same. The Village School has set up a registry with Curtis Restaurant Equipment in Springfield where you can purchase items at the store and they will deliver them to The Village School.

If you would like to support students eating healthy lunches at The Village School please contact Stacey Black at 541-913-9424 or staceygilligan@hotmail.com. You can also mail your tax-deductible contribution to The Village School 2855 Lincoln St., Attention: The Village Kitchen, Eugene, OR 97405. Someone will be in the school office to accept donations Monday- Friday, 8:00am– 4:00pm.

The Village School is a holistic, arts-integrated K-8 elementary and middle school that was founded in 2000 as one of Oregon's first charter schools. Inspired by Waldorf education, The Village School provides a program that fully integrates the arts within an academic curriculum, educating the whole child—head, heart and hands. Movement, Handwork, Music and Spanish language classes are an integral part of the student's educational experience. For more information visit www.EugeneVillageSchool.org

An easy way to donate!!!

Hi friends, The Village Kitchen has set up a registry with Curtis Restaurant Equipment for folks who would like donate needed items! They are located at 555 Shelly St. in Springfield. Or- you can give them a call at 541-746-7480 to place your order and they will deliver it right to us! Their hours are M-F, 8-5. What an easy way to participate!

Spruce up and painting party!

There is still much to do, so we'll be having another gathering next Sunday, August 28th from 1:00 - 4:00 to finish up general cleaning and to paint. We would love to have as many of you back as are able. I'll bring some fruit and cookies to share. The address is 2855 Lincoln st.

Please RSVP if you think you'll make it and feel free to invite others.

With gratitude,

Toña
541-341-6409

A Successful first event

Our first cleaning party was a true demonstration on how a few concerned community members can really make a difference. Instead of sleeping in, friends and neighbors of The Village School Kitchen spent last Saturday morning using their elbow grease to get rid of our kitchen grease!











Swift work was made of cleaning more than 70% of our kitchen from top to bottom. Our nine volunteers got down and dirty in an effort to prepare a pleasant and healthy atmosphere for our Village School kids to return to. No task was too messy or out of reach for this crew.












The group participation made fast and fun work of a grimy challenge. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that we had a FUN time working together.











In addition to our lovely volunteers, we sure appreciate our Janitor who did a extraordinary job shining up our kitchen and cafeteria floor! It's nearly clean enough to eat off of!











Not only is the kitchen cleaner than it has been in years (no joke), we were blessed by a visit from a concerned neighbor and friend of The Village School. While we were scrubbing away, Xuong and his two boys stopped in to take a look at our kitchen and offer some seasoned advice. You see, Xuong has many years experience in the creation and remodeling of professional and institutional kitchens. He had some timely suggestions concerning which appliances should or should not be replaced
and some sage advice on other practical matters. Xuong didn't stop in solely to offer advice, he and his wife Ann have purchased and donated all of the flatware for our program! We are honored to have such fine friends and neighbors and truly humbled by their giving spirit.

Thank you Xuong, Ann and family! And thanks be to all of our blessed volunteers who freely offer their own time to support our mission to provide REAL food to our kids.

Donations

We are so blessed by our community and fellow parents at The Village School. We had a very successful first Kitchen clean-up (more details on that later), and many are asking "where can we send donations?"

Donations can be made to: The Village School 2855 Lincoln St. #B, Eugene, Oregon 97405
Please attach a note indicating that it is for The Village Kitchen.