Taking on food insecurity, one meal at a time
When COVID-19 sent the country into lockdown in 2020, Audrey Smallwood ’27 and her friend Elias Rabine were high school students in Turlock, 加州. Both of their families were in the restaurant business, so they watched with great interest as renowned Spanish-American chef José Andrés and his nonprofit World Central Kitchen made headlines by paying empty eateries across the nation to cook free take-out meals for community members in need.
“We were really inspired by his efforts, not only to combat food insecurity but also to alleviate the stress that restaurants were experiencing during the pandemic,斯莫尔伍德回忆道, now a student at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development. “We got to thinking, how could we replicate what they were doing, but get youth involved doing it?”
答案是 改变厨房, a nonprofit Smallwood and Rabine founded in 2021. It began as a high school club where students prepared fresh meals under the guidance of professional chefs, and then delivered them to people in the community. 为食材付费, the group hosted fundraisers and applied for grants, but the kitchen space was free—the students had full access to Rabine’s family restaurant, 第一个 & Main, when it was otherwise closed to the public.
改变厨房 caught on quickly—more than 100 students signed up to join in its first few months and membership has since surpassed 200 students across two chapters. 当地新闻频道注意到了这一点, and midway through her freshman year at 电子游戏软件, Smallwood received an exciting phone call: The Kelly Clarkson Show, a popular daytime television program hosted by the former American Idol winner herself, had booked Chef Andrés as a guest on an upcoming episode. Would Smallwood and Rabine like to join him?
Audrey Smallwood ’27 and her friend Elias Rabine chatting with Chef José Andrés and Kelly Clarkson.
“We got a four-day notice, so it was a very quick, stressful process,斯莫尔伍德说. “But we said, ‘Yes, of course we’re down.“这对我们来说真的很特别 to be able to meet the man who inspired us. He’s the reason 改变厨房 was founded."
Since she was a child, Smallwood has associated serving others with food. 她的祖母移民到美国.S. from Mexico when Smallwood’s mother was six years old, and opened a Mexican restaurant called 拉莫renita. 晚些时候, Smallwood’s mother and sisters launched a spinoff establishment, 拉莫, which became Smallwood’s second home. She remembers doing homework at empty tables, 在地板上工作, and watching her mother give back in small but meaningful ways.
“She was always giving away a free cup of coffee to a homeless person or delivering a week’s worth of meals to a family who had lost someone,斯莫尔伍德说. “That really exemplified to me the power that food has to unite people.”
通过厨房改变, Smallwood and Rabine are working to eliminate as many barriers as possible to help hungry people access nutritious food. 虽然第一次 & 美因岛仍然是他们的基地, students regularly prepare meals in the kitchen of the local homeless shelter, serving residents in the adjacent dining room. 每年一月, they prepare holiday meal boxes for fellow students who are struggling with food insecurity to take home to their families. 2021年11月, when hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan were stationed at hotels in Turlock, 改变厨房 partnered with the International Rescue Committee to cook them a traditional Afghan meal.
“It was my favorite project we’ve done,斯莫尔伍德回忆道. “We couldn’t speak the same language as the people we were serving, but the expressions and smiles on their faces communicated to us the impact this one meal had.”
Since arriving at 电子游戏软件 in the fall, Smallwood has temporarily hung up her apron and assumed a leadership role with 改变厨房, joining the board of directors and overseeing organizational logistics from afar. 现在, her priority is increasing the consistency and frequency of meals produced by Turlock students, 但最终, she’d like to see the 改变厨房 model emulated in high schools across the country. After her appearance on the Kelly Clarkson Show, 她现在有10美元,000 donation from sponsor Conagra Brands to help make that happen, as well as the admiration of the man who inspired it all.
“It’s a magical, simple, powerful idea,” said Chef Andrés of 改变厨房. “They saw what they had around them and they did the most they could with what was at their disposal. It’s people like them that [make us believe that] yes, 我们可以改变美国, 我们可以改善美国, 我们可以改变世界.”