Serving Up Smiles: Nourish Cowichan Volunteering

Serving Up Smiles: Nourish Cowichan Volunteering

7 December 2025Fiona C, Hope ‘26

Who says volunteering in the kitchen is only about chopping veggies and washing trays? When students stepped up to help prepare meals at Nourish Cowichan, we were in for laughter, new friendships, and food adventures that go way beyond a simple lunch line.

When we arrived at the school, Ms Kelly, our coordinator for the evening, took us on a short tour of places we would need to be familiar with. As we waved to staff members, we had the opportunity to take a good look at how their community kitchen works. Their commitment is to serve young people with healthy, nutritious food to help every child in the community reach their full learning potential.

After we put on our fancy hairnets and aprons, Ms Kelly got straight to business. We started by peeling and cutting carrots and learning how their kitchen staff works. Liza D, Mack ‘26, joked: “It’s as if we are on Master Chef!” As we progressed with more carrots being stacked in buckets, we came up with a name for Kirk NH, Privett ‘28, as “Carrot Captain”. His job was to wash the carrots and clean them to be used in cookies, pasta, and sauces.

When we finished cutting the vegetables, it was time to clean up our workspaces and sort out the compost buckets. We each learned more about how they keep up sustainable practices. As we wiped down the counters and stacked the compost buckets, the staff showed us which sprays to use and where to find specific dish rags. Together, we cleaned up the kitchen and organized our hard work of cutting vegetables into plastic bags or containers. Stella B, Hope ‘27 reflected, “I had a great time learning how Nourish Cowichan operates behind the scenes!”

Not only did our B-Well Sponsor, Ms Folk, help us cut and clean in the kitchen, she also organized the times for our visit and communicated with Nourish Cowichan for us to be able to volunteer! Ms Folk reflects, “In just a short visit, our Brentwood students quickly became important team members of a larger operation to support thousands of students in the Cowichan Valley experiencing food insecurity.” Her planning helped us fit this experience into our schedules – and we appreciate her dedication.

As we walked out of the kitchen, we got healthy cookies as a treat, and we knew this was just the first of many times we would show up to help at Nourish Cowichan!

Fiona C, Hope ‘26

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