Jackets, car keys, water bottles and other personal belongings lined the hallway outside the teaching kitchen at UNC Asheville on Friday morning. The noise coming from the kitchen — clanging pots, a knife blade against a cutting board and laughter — spilled out of the room and into the hall, lingering above the piles of stashed items.
Inside, volunteers stood shoulder to shoulder, chatting while remaining intently focused on their task. The group gathered here had a common mission, and a lofty one at that. They resolved to prepare from scratch 500 nutritious meals in just 10 hours.
More than 60 volunteers from the Asheville community signed up to participate in the initiative on Friday, Oct. 23, which was organized by Amy Lanou, chair of UNCA’s health and wellness department, and Laura Sexton, registered dietitian and UNCA staff member.
The event celebrated national Food Day, an effort intended to raise awareness about healthy eating, food security and justice. The cook-a-thon, the culmination of a partnership between UNCA, Lenoir-Rhyne University and Asheville-based Food Connection, was a way of supporting that vision. “We all have a mission, personally and professionally, to feed our community,” Sexton says.
To that end, the food prepared during the cook-a-thon was delivered to Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry, Food Not Bombs and In Real Life at Asheville Middle School. The first batch of food, prepared between 8 and 11 a.m., was transported directly to Veterans Restoration Quarters and immediately served to hundreds of residents at lunch.
The organization serves 16,000 meals every week, says Eric Cox, ABCCM’s director of food service operations. “We would not be successful without donations or our volunteers,” he says.
Hands-on events like the cook-a-thon give community members the opportunity to directly see the impact of their efforts, says Food Connection co-founder Flori Pate. “Even if someone doesn’t necessarily have food to give, people want to get involved.”
The majority of the food donations for the Cook-a-thon came from individuals in the community, Lanou says. Collection barrels like these sat out for two weeks leading up to the event.
UNC Asheville’s teaching kitchen was the site of the area’s first-ever Cook-a-thon event.
Lanou and Sexton organized preparation stations for each food product, and briefed the new waves of volunteers who arrived every two hours.
UNC Asheville Junior, Jodi Gerberg, was one of many students to volunteer at the Cook-a-thon.
Volunteers washed, diced and mixed the fresh vegetables that went into each dish.
Recipe cards hung at each station to guide volunteers through the process of multiplying the ingredients in order to cook for triple-digit portion sizes.
Olivia Allen, left, and Alessandra Troncoso diced sweet potatoes and pumpkins for the vegetable chili.
Dietetic students from Lenoir-Rhyne University created the plant-based menu for the Cook-a-thon. The school partnered with UNC Asheville to make the event possible.
Sandy Kinzie, front, and Briana Emmons sliced apples to go toward the 500 servings of apple crisp prepared during the day’s event.
Food Day is a national initiative intended to raise awareness about food systems and healthy diets. This year’s theme is “Toward a greener diet.”
Olivia Harris, UNC Asheville junior, chops fresh cloves of garlic for the plant-based recipes.
Faculty and students from Lenoir-Rhyne and UNC Asheville, as well as community members, signed up for two-hour volunteer shifts during the 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. event.
Rachel Kish, senior and soccer team member, volunteered during the morning shift with fellow UNC Asheville athletes.
Seasonal vegetables were intentionally a main staple in the menu, Brady says. “The thickener of the chili is pumpkin. It adds a lot of nutrients,” she says.
“We’re trying to incorporate all the best things about food,” Brady says. “It’s a very densely nutritious meal.”
Alessandra Troncoso peels the skin off the pumpkin before she hands it off to a volunteer at another station who will puree it.
Volunteers of all ages and backgrounds gathered to make the cook-a-thon a success. Frank Contreras, front, and Olivia Allen stir pots of simmering chili.
The vegetarian chili Frank Contreras helped prepare was packaged and transported to the Veterans Restoration Quarters in East Asheville.
Lauren Brady, an instructor with the Lenoir-Rhyne University Dietetics Intern program, helped organize the Cook-a-thon, and also lent a helping hand in preparing the 500 meals for area non-profits.
Volunteers took special care to fully utilize their available food resources. Jackie Hamstead, right, seasoned and roasted the pumpkin seeds that were harvested earlier that morning.
PUMPKIN SEASON: Linnsey Baltierrez, front, and Jodi Gerberg mix up a batch of freshly chopped slaw. The fully vegan pumpkin chili meal also featured cornbread and apple crisp.
“We’re making 500 meals in 10 hours with 60 volunteers,” says organizer Amy Lanou.
Laura Sexton, left, works for both UNC Asheville’s health and wellness department, as well as Chartwell’s, the company contracted to provide dining options on UNCA’s campus. Chartwell’s donated nearly all of the dry and shelf-stable goods necessary for the 500 meals prepared during the cook-a-thon, she says.
Adam Kachinsky, UNC Asheville junior, empties the first batch of chili into transport containers so that it can be served for lunch at the Veterans Restoration Quarters in a few hours.
Linnsey Baltierrez, front, and Sarah Smith both volunteered for two hours. During that time, they prepared more than 100 servings of freshly-chopped slaw.
“I’ve been really impressed with how the community has come together to donate the food,” says Amy Lanou, chair of UNC Asheville’s health and wellness department, and organizer of the cook-a-thon.
Freshman Juliet Flam-Ross measures ingredients for the scratch-made apple crisp dessert that will be donated to ABCCM, Food Not Bombs, or In Real Life at Asheville Middle School.
Volunteers helped with more than just food preparation. Grace Sun, front, and Lauren Brady help wash dirty dishes. Other volunteers also assisted with transporting food to the various recipient organizations.
Cook-a-thon organizer Amy Lanou seals a food container before handing it to volunteers at the next station who will mark it and prepare if for transportation.
“We want to prepare 500 meals in 10 hours with 60 volunteers,” says cook-a-thon organizer Amy Lanou.
Cook-a-thon organizer Laura Sexton, left, and other volunteers stack trays of ready-to-eat food that will be transported to area non-profits.
Laura Sexton, left, and volunteers load trays of ready-to-eat food into the vehicle of a volunteer who will deliver it to one of several area non-profits.
Laura Sexton, right, and other volunteers deliver the first batch of meals to ABCCM, at the Veterans Restoration Quarters.
Laura Sexton, right, and other volunteers deliver the first batch of meals to ABCCM, at the Veterans Restoration Quarters.
Workers in the kitchen at ABCCM’s Veteran Restoration Quarters immediately transferred the still-hot chili into pans for their serving line.
Volunteers at ABCCM’s Veterans Restoration Quarters served the fresh chili, cornbread, slaw and apple crisp to hungry residents at lunch.
Volunteers at ABCCM’s Veterans Restoration Quarters served the fresh chili, cornbread, slaw and apple crisp to hungry residents at lunch.
ABCCM’s Veterans Restoration Quarters serves 3 meals a day to its 240 residents, totaling more than 16,000 meals per week, says Eric Cox, director of food service operations.
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