Leaders
Individuals
If you’re an individual looking to support Community Kitchens, there are a number of ways to get involved. You can donate funds, cooking supplies or food to your local kitchen. You can also volunteer–we’re always looking for more shoppers, recipe leads, chefs, and nutritionists.
To learn more, please email info@communitykitchensnw.org.
Organizations
Many community kitchens are looking to create sustainable partnerships with community food producers, distributors and organizations.
New and on-going Community Kitchens frequently purchase cooking utensils in good working order and cleaning supplies in addition to food. If you’re interested in partnering with a specific Community Kitchen please contact the Community Kitchen Coordinator directly. If you’re interested in partnering with Community Kitchens Northwest on a larger scale project, please contact Kala Mayer, member of the Community Kitchens Northwest Steering Committee, at (206) 414-8491.
Community Kitchens around the region are currently partnering with a number of local organizations, including PCC, Solid Ground, Seattle Parks and Recreation, Senior Centers, and City Fruit, among others.
Volunteer Community Kitchen Coordinators
Community Kitchens is fortunate to have a long list of dedicated, volunteer kitchen coordinators. To learn more about an individual kitchen, please contact the kitchen coordinator directly. If you’re unsure who to contact, email info@communitykitchensnw.org and we’ll point you in the right direction.
Kate Farmer – Rainier Vista Community Kitchen
Kate Farmer is the Site Manager at Neighborhood House Rainier Vista Center. Located in the heart of Rainier Vista, the Center offers services, support and resources for low income people living in the community. Rainier Vista is one of the most culturally diverse communities in the country with over 14 languages spoken. Kate currently leads a monthly community kitchen on-site which local residents attend and learn new cooking skills, share recipes and prepare food to take home. Kate has been with the Center for 2 years, prior to that she worked at the Archdiocesan Housing Authority in Seattle for 3 years as a Resident Services Coordinator.
Leika Suzumura – Rainier Community Kitchen
Leika has been cooking and studying nutrition since the tender age of 13. These early experiences were impressionable and led her to pursue a career in nutrition. She received her undergraduate degree in Nutrition at Bastyr University and is currently a nutrition educator for PCC Natural Markets. She is passionate about food justice and the pursuit of making quality foods accessible to all people. Her strategy is founded on come-unity networks and empowering people with knowledge and the skills necessary to take charge of their health for the greatest quality of life.
Diana Vergis Vinh – Downtown Community Kitchen
Diana is a Public Health Nurse with Public Health Seattle & King County where she works doing healthy eating, active living programs. She has been part of Community Kitchens Northwest since its start three years ago.
Dorothy Sager – Unity Church Community Kitchen
As a single person I am aware of the challenges of preparing food for one. I was looking for a way to combine my healthy lifestyle training with people having fun together when I discovered community kitchens. The community kitchen provides social support, creativity, fun and incredibly delicious food. I learn ways to support local, organic food growers and discover environmental resources while I teach healthy nutrition tips and kitchen skills every time we have an evening in the kitchen. Dorothy Sager, Synergy Wellness Coach and Raw Food Chef, Unity Seattle Community Kitchen SynergyWellnessCoach.com
Kala Mayer – Rainier Community Kitchen
Kala is a Registered Nurse. In 2007, Kala entered her studies at the
University of Washington as a Nursing doctoral student with an interest in nutrition-related chronic disease. As a child growing up with a mother with Celiac disease Kala knew she wanted to pursue a career making a positive difference for those living with chronic disease. In addition to nursing, over the last 3 years Kala has worked hard to make a difference through her involvement in the grassroots Community Kitchen Project as a participant, administrator and as an active member of the CommunityKitchensNW Coalition, serving on the steering committee.
Rachel Duboff – Wallingford Community Kitchen
Rachel is the owner of {thyme to Nourish}, a personal chef & food education
service focused on whole foods and healthy eating. Trained at the Culinary Arts program at the Art Institute of Seattle, Rachel spent her early years with a mom who loved to experiment with food and 1 ½ years in Malaysia where she immersed herself in SE Asian and Indian cuisines. Rachel has been a chef instructor with Solid Ground’s Operation Frontline program since 2003 and recently joined the instructor team for PCC Cooks. Rachel is furthering her education through her studies in Nutritional Therapy, a holistic approach to food based health and wellness and believes that a focus on food and community is the key to our happiness and our future. www.thyme2nourish.com
Ryan Miller – Downtown Community Kitchen
Even though Ryan graduated from the California Culinary Academy in 2004
with training in classic French cuisine, he doesn’t cook quite that way anymore. Through stints cooking in restaurants and cafes, selling single-origin olive oil, pouring wine, and making micro-roasted coffee (he’s currently a barista), he found the way he really likes to cook. His style could be called “intuitive cooking,” an almost free-form way of approaching seasonal ingredients with as little manipulation as possible. Despite this, he relies on his basic food training and research of cuisines around the world in order to have the confidence to buy and cook any fresh food from scratch, for maximum enjoyment and nutrition. He wants to show you how to cook like he does.
Terrie Irish – Snoqualmie Valley Community Kitchen
My name is Terrie Irish. In addition to over thirty years of practical experience with home canning I have completed formal training in home food preservation. I have worked the 60 hour week in a corporate environment and the daily commute; enjoyed the privilege of staying home when my children were young; pursued seasons where volunteering seemingly consumed any available free time; taught history through homeschooling cooperatives; sold cheese at the local gourmet store; experienced lean times and flush times, overworked times and the occasional respite.
Pat Barger – Queen Anne Community Center Kitchen
I grew up in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. I started to learn to
cook at 9 in 4-H and was active in 4-H until I went to college. My
mother was a self taught restaurant and resort cook who in later years ran a pie and donut bakery from our house.
I attended the University of Vermont, graduating with a major in psychology. I attended Northwestern University for graduate school and obtained a PhD. in child clinical psychology. While in Chicago I met my husband; we have been married more than 50 years. During my professional career I was a university professor, a clinic director and finally a mental health system executive for the State of Illinois.
Thru all this time I was a serious amateur foodie. I have always cooked,
taken random classes and have collected several hundred cookbooks.My art
form was the four or five course dinner for 40 or 50 guests held at our
house once a year. When we moved to Seattle after retirement I became
active at QA Community and Aquatic Center. After some years I became the
lead volunteer cook for senior meals and recently the lead for our
Community Kitchen. I love to cook and to share skills and nutrition
information with my seniors, many of whom are tired of cooking for
themselves but enjoy the company of the kitchen and having food ready in
their freezers.
Alison Hill - Hunger Intervention Program
Alison’s received her BA from Western Washington University in Cultural Studies and is currently attending SU’s MPA program. Her professional background consists of close work with chronically homeless adults coping with mental illness, physical and developmental disabilities, and domestic violence.
Alison believes that nutritious foods and positive communities are key steps to emotional and physical healing and that everyone in the world should have access to these essentials.
HIP’s Community Kitchens focus on nutrition and empowerment while striving to build confidence in participants through positive reinforcement, respect for the skill level of each individual, and an appreciation for each Participant’s culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and background.
Alison’s passion for food lead to her self taught culinary knowledge. Some favorite ingredients to cook with include kale, quinoa, butternut squash, beets, broccoli, walnuts, lemon, rosemary, basil, pepper, and cinnamon.
Rebecca Pearson – Ellensburg Kitchen
