The idea to host a kitchen party to raise funds for a kitchen for Whitehorse’s food bank came to Kevin Rumsey while he was lying in bed one night.
“I remember thinking to myself at three o’clock in the morning when I couldn’t sleep, and it just hit me — a kitchen party for a kitchen. I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s too good,’” Rumsey, the president-elect of the Rotary Club of Whitehorse Rendezvous, tells the News.
Kitchen parties are an integral part of the culture of Atlantic Canada. They involve good friends, good food, music and dancing — all in a kitchen, of course.
Rumsey’s idea resulted from a visit to the food bank by Rotary International’s district governor for the region, Brent Collingwood. The district governor asked food bank staff what help could be offered to ensure their continued success, and the need for a kitchen space was raised.
Dave Blottner, the executive director of the Food Bank Society of the Yukon, recalls the discussions had with Collingwood during his visit. He said, “It floored us when Rotary International walked in here, and they were like, ‘What do you need?’ Because no one ever asks us that…They were like, ‘Everyone gives you food, like, what do you need?’”
Blottner notes the food bank often receives items with a short shelf life and that without a kitchen, there is no way to process those items into dishes that can be frozen and eaten later. He recalls receiving around 40 pallets of potatoes during the COVID-19 pandemic and the struggle to give them all out before they went bad.
“I think I had two pounds of potatoes that were starting to go on me, and to us, the largest crime ever here is wasting food. And so, at the time, linking up with a number of other organizations, Rotary Club included, they came together and used a bunch of kitchens to turn those potatoes into shepherd’s pies and things like that so we could save them,” Blottner said.
“But that comes up a fair amount here, where we have food that we could give a second life to if we had a way to process that food in-house and change it into things like soups.”
In addition to ensuring that food items can be repurposed to avoid waste, Blottner notes that the kitchen will allow food bank staff and volunteers to make ready-made meals to save clients’ time.
“Having a ready-made meal that you can pop in the oven at the end of the day is a game changer. That’s so huge. And it’s such a relief. Like I always say, the best thing we can give our clients is time … This kitchen will be a gift of time for many people,” Blottner said.
A kitchen party for a kitchen
Collingwood’s visit to the food bank and Rumsey’s late-night brilliance have culminated in an upcoming fundraising event to help the food bank realize its goal of preventing food waste through its own kitchen facility: the “East Coast Kitchen Party.”
The party will be held on May 11 at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre (KDCC) and aims to raise $20,000 to support Whitehorse’s food bank’s kitchen project. Some donors have already come out in support of the event, with ATCO Electric and Ketza Construction each having donated $1,000, according to Rumsey.
There are 246 tickets available for purchase, each priced at $75. At the time of writing, 105 have been sold. Rumsey says for the cost of admission, attendees can expect a buffet dinner of East Coast-inspired fare by Kit’s Kitchen and entertainment.
There will also be a cash bar, silent auction and a “screech-in,” a Newfoundland tradition generally involving a shot of Screech rum and kissing a cod on the mouth. (Attendees will be asked to pay $5 to kiss the cod at the event.)
“We’ve got three local fiddlers, who will play between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., and the dinner buffet (starts) at 7 p.m. The band starts at 8:30 p.m. and at 10 p.m., probably a screech-in. At some point, there will be the silent auction,” Rumsey said, noting the silent auction boasts some impressive items, including hand tools valued at roughly $600 and two flight tickets to destinations served by Air North.
The fundraiser will run from 6 p.m. until midnight, with the last call for beverages at 11 p.m.
A long-time ally
This upcoming fundraiser is far from the first time Whitehorse’s Rotary Club has aided the food bank. Roughly a decade ago, the non-profit service organization contributed funds to cover one-third of the cost of purchasing a vehicle for the food bank.
More recently, the club has been selling homemade dog biscuits to raise funds for the food bank.
“Rotary has been one of our staunchest allies here at the food bank — forever. There isn’t a Christmas that goes by where they’re not in here helping us,” Blottner said, adding that the local Rotary Club was a significant help in keeping operations going during the pandemic.
Admittedly, even if the upcoming East Coast-inspired fundraising event at the KDCC in May raises its target of $20,000, more money will be necessary to complete the food bank’s kitchen.
According to Blottner, the estimated price tag for the kitchen is $60,000.
However, Blottner notes the fundraising target from the dinner event “is nothing to sneeze at” and that it could help open the door to additional funding.
“Most of the grants you apply for that would help us out require you to have a certain percentage that you can put down first, and Rotary is giving us that ability to say, like, we’ve got one-third of the funding already,” Blottner said.
Those who cannot attend the fundraiser but would like to contribute can do so by contacting either the Whitehorse Food Bank or the Rotary Club of Whitehorse Rendezvous.
Blottner notes that 100 per cent of any donation cheques that arrive with the word “kitchen” written on the memo line will go towards the kitchen project.
READ MORE: Yukon University students’ forecast model shows food insecurity rising in Whitehorse
For those looking to purchase a ticket to the dinner party on May 11 at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre (KDCC), click here.
Contact Matthew Bossons at matthew.bossons@yukon-news.com