For more than four years, teen and adult volunteers of the local nonprofit Fox Valley Food for Health have gathered two days a week preparing organic healthy meals that are delivered to community members suffering from a serious illness.
In all, more than 20,000 meals have been delivered at little or no cost to more than 230 area residents, group officials said.
Recently earning her apron for 12 weeks of service with Fox Valley Food for Health, St. Charles East High School sophomore Kayla Villa heard about the organization after one of her neighbors began to receive meals.
Villa said she has cooked “a lot of interesting things” that she wouldn’t think of cooking on her own at home.
“We made beet burgers – made out of beets and other vegetables – and formed into a patty which was really good,” she added.
Villa said after her volunteer shift is over, she participates in classes about nutrition or kitchen skills.
But the best part, Villa said, is when recipients of the food come into the kitchen to meet the volunteers and talk with them.
“It is nice to see our impact on the community,” she added.
In 2012, Mary Fremgen, a registered dietitian, and Susan Leigh, a professionally trained chef, joined together to form the nonprofit Fox Valley Food for Health.
Already cooking for individuals undergoing cancer treatment at the time, Leigh said, the two saw a need in the community at the time that was not being filled by existing charities and other support services.
The genesis behind Fox Valley Food for Health was the idea to broaden and deepen the approach to nutrition surrounding individuals with serious illnesses, she added.
Fox Valley Food for Health has several components that work together. As part of its program, teen volunteers receive three hours a week of training in cooking, gardening, nutrition, and health education from trained chefs and dietitians at the kitchens of the Kane County Fairgrounds.
In the summer, teens also can participate in a gardening program that runs from June to August, Leigh said. Through this program, teens pick one day a week to plant vegetables, maintain them, and then harvest the vegetables.
“We like the program to be full circle,” she added.
Adult volunteers mentor teens, prep food, and deliver meals.
Leigh explained that many of its adult volunteers are culinary experts themselves.
“We have some talented people who have stepped up to support what we do,” she added.
Several of the Fox Valley Food for Health adult volunteers have culinary degrees from Kendall College Culinary School, the Culinary Institute of America, and the French Pastry School, Leigh said.
“The teens get exposed to some wonderfully talented individuals,” she added. “We also have had two teens attend national culinary competitions with their high schools.”
Many of the teen volunteers go on to study food science in college, however, the group also has volunteers that go on to study pre-med and nursing, she added.
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Each week, clients receive four full meals – one with wild sustainable seafood and one with organic poultry, Leigh said.
“The other two meals are vegetarian,” she said. “We also make two very healthy, hearty soups made with a homemade broth that we call mineral broth.”
The meals also include a salad and a dessert, Leigh said.
“Our pastry chefs have some beautiful recipes for desserts made without white flour or white sugar,” she said.
The goal is to provide the most nutritious food possible, Leigh said.
Fox Valley Food for Health also is attempting to shift the mindsets of individuals receiving the food and the volunteers who create the food. The idea is to get people eating more healthy foods, group officials said.
Fox Valley Food for Health’s Molly Evans said that the group’s work is truly a labor of love.
“Each week we have about 30 teen volunteers that come in … and help prepare the meals from chopping and cooking to packaging them,” she said. “It has been a true joy for me to see the kids get excited about eating healthy food – learning to cook it, but also tasting it and realizing how good the food is.”
Cathy Janek is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News