CHLPI Associate Director Sarah Downer to Present at a Training Aimed to Get People Cooking in Community Kitchens

Calling all community kitchens…meeting Thursday

Via The Recorder 

In an effort to get people cooking in community kitchens to make better use of local foods, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments is hosting a training today from 5 to 7 p.m. at the the Western Massachusetts Food Processing Center in Greenfield.

The effort is aimed at heating up use of commercial kitchens at schools, houses of worship and other sites while working through concerns that may come up about liability, according to Phoebe Walker, the COG’s director of community services.

“We’re hoping to find ways to get people to eat better, and that means making community facilities more available,” Walker said, “but not increasing their liability.

Anyone who’s thinking of turning pounds of tomatoes into sauce for donation to a local food pantry, pickling garden vegetables or starting their own food business may be interested in the discussion, along with operators of school or church kitchens that could be shared with community cooks or food entrepreneurs.

A full dinner will be served as part of the program, which will include presentations by Rachel Stoler, the COG’s community health program manager; Randy Crochier, COG food safety agent;  Joanna Benoit, the food processing center’s food systems program manager, Stacey Wood and David Soule, co-owners of Whole Harmony, as well as Sarah Downer, associate director of Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation;  Erica Kyzmir-McKeon, an attorney and senior fellow at Conservation Law Foundation’s Legal Food Hub’ and Cheryl Sbarra, director of policy and law with the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards.

Registration is required at  www.eventbrite.com/e/shared-use-and-community-kitchens-training-tickets-50224901031