Cooking Matters Annual Summit
Posted by Ellen Damaschino on Friday, May 27, 2011
When families gather at the table to eat, it is a special event. Coming together for a meal means sitting and talking, sharing and learning and just plain re-connecting. The entire Cooking Matters Family comes together just once a year and our mealtime table is a conference called Annual Summit. Last week Cooking Matters’ meal was in Detroit, MI, home to one of our partners, Gleaners Community Food Bank.
Our largest Annual Summit to-date was attended by over 115 guests including Cooking Matters staff, AmeriCorps members and sponsors and potential and community partners. For three days, through programming and networking, we shared experiences, ideas, strategies, information and best practices to inspire our work as the leader in healthy, affordable cooking and in effort to continue to have the greatest impact on the families we serve. Programming covered a wide-span of topics ranging from the current work of Share Our Strength, to Cooking Matters curricula and educational tools updates, to a closer look at federal nutrition programs. To keep in theme with one of the claims to fame of our host city, programmatic session titles were inspired by the music of Motown, including My Momma Told Me You Better Shop Around (and other lessons from Shopping Matters for WIC Parents) and The ABCs of Cooking Matters, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough: A Report and Update on Cooking Matters from Share Our Strength!
Detroit is known for its commitment to urban gardens and public art and we had the good fortune to learn about the history and future of this incredible city from Gleaners Community Food Bank partner staff. Their love of Detroit and the people served by Cooking Matters was apparent as they helped us to develop a sense of place through story-telling; guiding tours of downtown Detroit, the Food Bank and the Food Bank’s gardens; and hosting dinner at Gleaners. With Motown music in the background, the Cooking Matters team spent an evening re-connecting with old and getting to know new friends while noshing on appetizers made with Cooking Matters staff and volunteer recipes and enjoying a delicious Middle Eastern-themed dinner.
Each year we look forward to coming together at Annual Summit, for the opportunity to connect with each other, and to share the strengths and celebrate the impact of this great program. As the Cooking Matters family expands, so does the number of communities we reach — a symbol of this expansion is the very large, new leaf we just added to the dining table!
May 27, 2011 | 2 comment(s) | Tags: Cooking Matters, detroit, food banks, Shopping Matters
Comments
2 reader comments so far.
Excellent article, Ellen! I especially like the family dining metaphor, and the "large new leaf" as the program expands. Well done! Keep up the good work on behalf of all families who deserve nutritious, affordable meals.
(Love, Your Proud Mom)
Posted by Ann Damaschino on May 27, 2011
A heartfelt thank you for all you do. I blogged about my pledge and am so thankful to have found your site today...
http://thechefsbride.blogspot.com/2011/05/no-kid-hungry.html
Posted by Dana on May 30, 2011
Post a comment
All fields are required (your e-mail address will not be displayed)