It started with a class in sourdough hosted by Britta McColl at Castlerock Sourdough. From there, a friendship was born. I wanted to learn more about sourdough and perfect Tartine bread, which can be very tricky with shaping! When something is a challege, I will keep hammering at it until I get it right. Plus, the bread was dang tasty. I bombarded Britta with questions, and she invited me to help her out at the bakery. My friend was now also my mentor.
I continued baking out of home, and made such a habit of it I was giving away loaves to friends, family, and neighbors as an act of love and care during COVID in February and March. This was during the time bread was scarce. My neighbor Earl decided to give me cash for the loaves, and I started collecting the funds in a jar for the Winona Volunteer Services Food Shelf. We knew there would be a need and that key fundraising and food drives would be cancelled due to the pandemic.
I had been posting consistently on my personal facebook page and in May I mentioned how the we managed to collect a certain amount of cash and it was going to the food shelf. Well, after that, the requests started coming in. I went to work on original recipes. I created a facebook page, and the increase of requests started coming in. I recieved encourgament from Britta, and even had a huge donation come in from Wire Monkey Shop for the cause. Over May-June, we hit over $1400 in donations.
I'm not sure if everyone has experienced a time when they had to decide between paying rent, their phone bill, or get food. I can tell you I have. Back when I lived in NYC. Surviving off of oatmeal squares my Mother would send me in care packages, a bagel and OJ from a food cart, or hoping someone would ask you out on a date and you might score a great conversation and maybe a meal. Don't judge. LOL. When I was working at a grocery store, I would take the 50% off deal on prepared foods at the end of my shift and live off of that. It wasn't healthy, it wasn't balanced. It's what I had to do.
The Winona Volunteer Services Food Shelf served 755 families a month in 2019. A average family is 2-3 people. 12% of these families are in the 70+ age group. My husband Jon and I believe it's every person's job to give back to their community. He's been a saint fixing ovens from the Habitat For Humanity Restore to get this effort going. Big thanks to him for putting up with a total kitchen take over and for being the handy man, taste tester, and voice of reason.
