Kim Bruckshaw (left) and Amanda Mercer roll dough for the meat pies that the ladies at the Community Kitchen baked. (Michele Weisz photo)

Every Thursday morning a group of people gather in the kitchen as their young children play outside. In a flurry of activity, they chat and joke and tell stories as they chop, peel, slice and stir.

Savoury smelling food simmers on the stove while something delightfully fragrant bubbles in the oven. Their matriarch flits from sink to stove to oven, keeping her eye on everything, ready to help and share advice.

When the cooking is complete and the baking is cooling, they gather the children and sit down to eat together.

The scene is not unlike any traditional family working together in the kitchen to prepare a meal. Except this kitchen is not in their home. It is in the basement of Grace Lutheran Church.

The matriarch, Nancy, works for the Desert Sun Counselling and Resource Centre, and the family is a group of mostly single parents who come to the kitchen every week as part of the centre’s Community Kitchen program.

The Community Kitchen is a program for young parents to learn cooking techniques, prepare wholesome meals and meet others like them. While they cook, a child-minder watches their children.

After sharing a hot lunch together they get to take the leftovers home to their families. It all happens under the watchful eye of program co-ordinator Nancy Aatelma.

But to those who come week after week, it is about so much more.

“They look after each other…it’s a family,” says Aatelma.

If someone from Oliver cannot find a way to come into town, the group arranges for a carpool; if someone is unable to attend, Aatelma sends a care package home with one of the others. Many of the women do not have family living nearby so they rely on each other, and on Aatelma, for help and encouragement.

“The bond you get…it’s nice to have that support system,” says young mom Amanda Mercer.

The people who come to the Community Kitchen are mostly young women but there are a few single fathers who come. Dylan Hay brings his young daughter Hailey and says that he receives a lot of support from the others.

For the young women in particular, it is a place to meet other young mothers. Aatelma says that without the right support, being a new mom at home can be very isolating.

Kim Bruckshaw travels from Kelowna every week and says, “I don’t know any moms except from here.”

Aatelma does not just help with the cooking, she also gives parenting tips and budgeting advice and helps facilitate discussions about the struggles of being a parent.

She is also there to listen.

Sometimes after lunch is over some of the women ask to have one-on-one time with Aatelma, but mostly, she tries to incorporate her advice into casual conversation so that it does not go unheeded.

Aatelma has seen a lot of the children grow up in the kitchen. She has known many of them since they were born.

Every Wednesday Aatelma goes grocery shopping and says that she tries to come up with kid-friendly ideas for nutritious meals that do not require fancy appliances to duplicate.

The recipes are “things they can make at home,” she says.

Her weekly texts asking for meal suggestions usually go unanswered, so it is up to Aatelma to decide. She tries to devise interesting, simple dishes that everyone would enjoy and often creates internationally themed meal plans. Greek, Mexican and Chinese are some of the cuisines the kitchen has prepared.

Aatelma says that the local community has been very generous to the program.

“Everybody gives,” she says. All donated items are incorporated into the meals. When eight pounds of apples arrive, the kitchen makes apple sauce and apple cake. When jars are donated by the local thrift store, the women learn to make jam.

“I try to make everything from scratch,” Aatelma says.

Some people have been coming to the Community Kitchen regularly since its inception and some only come once.

Many of the young mothers have forged lasting friendships and they socialize outside of the program.

“A lot of my best friends are from the kitchen,” says Crystal Duperron.

In late October the Community Kitchen will be introducing a new program in which Aatelma will teach people how to prepare diabetic-friendly, healthy meals.

The program is funded by the Town of Osoyoos, United Way, BC Gaming, Interior Health, Literacy BC and from community donations. It runs every Thursday from September to June from 9 a.m. to approximately noon. Everyone is welcome.

MICHELE WEISZ

Osoyoos Times

Erica Mercer cleans up after lunch at the Community Kitchen. Along with her husband and two young children, Mercer brought her six-day old daughter to the kitchen. The group of young mothers and fathers meets every Thursday at 9 a.m. in the basement of Grace Lutheran Church. Participants learn to make nutritious meals and parenting skills. (Michele Weisz photo)

Crystal Duperron slices apples in the Community Kitchen. Eight pounds of apples were donated to the Community Kitchen last week. (Michele Weisz photo)

Harlee Tomlin (left), Izabel Mercer and Chloe Mederios have a little fun while their mothers chat and wait to eat the lunch they prepared at the Community Kitchen. (Michele Weisz photo)

Upside down, pear, ginger cake cools on the counter at the Community Kitchen. The cake, one of two desserts, was baked by Program Co-ordinator Nancy Aatelma and the group of young mothers and fathers that assemble every Thursday at 9 a.m. in the basement of Grace Lutheran Church. (Michele Weisz photo)

The ladies at the Community Kitchen fill containers with ground meat in preparation for the meat pies that were baked at the Community Kitchen. The Community Kitchen organization teaches mostly single, young parents to make nutritious meals while learning parenting and life skills. (Michele Weisz photo)

The ladies at the Community Kitchen prepare meat pies that the Community Kitchen baked. (Michele Weisz photo)

One of the meat pies prepared at the Community Kitchen. The Community Kitchen organization teaches mostly single, young parents to make nutritious meals while learning parenting and life skills. The group of young mothers and fathers assemble every Thursday at 9 a.m. in the basement of Grace Lutheran Church.

Eight pounds of apples were donated to the Community Kitchen last week. The apples were peeled and sliced and turned into apple sauce at the Community Kitchen. The community Kitchen runs every Thursday at 9 a.m. in the basement of Grace Lutheran Church. The organization teaches mostly single, young parents to make nutritious meals while learning parenting and life skills. (Michele Weisz photo)