LAKE COUNTY — The Free Kitchen Project (FKP) needs new volunteers to coordinate the program, handle its finances, cook and clean, according to outgoing coordinator Laisn? Hamilton.
After 16 years in operation, Hamilton said the non-profit needs at least three new board members to keep running.
“We don”t just want to say, that”s it, we”re done, and close the doors,” Hamilton said.
The project provides free sit-down dinners every Sunday night at locations that are announced weekly in Lakeport and Kelseyville. Patrons are seated and served a beverage, dinner and desert when available, just like at a restaurant, according to FKP cook and board member Marty Yzaguirre.
“The biggest misconception is that it”s for the needy, but it”s for anybody who wants a hot meal on a Sunday night,” Yzaguirre said.
Hamilton makes sure there are enough volunteer cooks and servers every week, coordinates shopping for food and supplies, tracks the number of meals served and writes a yearly grant for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds. In addition, she helps out in the kitchen.
“We serve 30 to 40-plus per dinner, but the number of dinners we prepare for are like 70 to 80, because we give food to the Freedom House and the fire department,” Hamilton said.
Of seven board members, a secretary resigned, the financial director is looking to retire and Hamilton said she wants to step down from the role of coordinator after six years. She said she spends about five hours a week coordinating the meals, which she puts in on weekends after spending all week teaching at Lakeport Elementary School.
“I”m feeling like it”s time to move on. We want to get some new energy in. I would love to stay involved and cook and serve, but we need to find someone else to be the coordinator,” Hamilton said.
The ideal coordinator would be organized and computer literate. Hamilton said she could train anyone willing to take the job. The non-profit also needs a financial director and a secretary. Board members should be able to attend quarterly meetings and help cook and serve on a rotating basis. A meeting will be held Aug. 21 at 5:30 p.m. at McDonalds in Lakeport, and anyone interested is invited to attend. For more information, call Hamilton at 279-8512.
“We”re not struggling financially, we just need people ? bodies,” Hamilton said.
Meals are offered in Lakeport on the first and third Sundays of each month at the United Christian Perish on Brush Street in Lakeport, on the second Sunday at St. John”s Episcopal Church on Forbes Street and on the fourth and fifth Sundays at St. Mary Immaculate on Main Street. Meals are served in the Kelseyville Senior Center on the first Sunday of each month. The meals are served between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., except on Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter, when dinner starts at 3 p.m.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
