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Kitchen Angels | 1222 Siler Road Santa Fe, NM 87507 | 505.471.7780
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Thank you for your on-going dedication and support of Kitchen Angels and the community of Santa Fe.
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VOLUNTEER
MILESTONE
ANNIVERSARIES
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1 Year
Stan Bermann
Sue Clark
Ann Leyland
Carol McBride
Elizabeth Neely
Dallas Rhodes
Ginger Sloan
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IN MEMORIAM
Celebrating the lives of our volunteers and clients
Ricky Burwell
Timothy P.
Lisa V.
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Truths are first clouds; then rain, then harvest and food.
~Henry Ward Beecher
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Announcements
We've got great news! Kitchen Angels has been awarded a $5,000 Meals on Wheels Loves Pets grant, made possible by PetSmart Charities.
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Diana and two of her five pets
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These funds are providing pet food and pet related products & services for our homebound clients and their beloved pets. The grant money can be used to assist clients with specialized pet food, dog beds, licensing, spaying & neutering, dog-walking services, pet vaccines, or other outstanding vet bills. We know how much pets are part of the family, and we've seen the healing that comes from having a companion pet.
Kitchen Angels aims to keep disabled Santa Feans in their homes for as long as possible by delivering meals. We want to keep pets at home as well, supporting their loving humans.
For many years now, Kitchen Angels has been bringing holiday cheer to our homebound clients with the Spirit of Giving. Hundreds of donors and volunteers come together to donate gift items, wrap them beautifully, and create gift bags. Our volunteer drivers deliver the holiday packages on the weeks leading up to Christmas. In the past we personalized the gifts as much as possible according to the likes and hobbies of our clients.
Our Spirit of Giving will be very different this year. We can't gather to wrap gifts. Fortunately, we're reinventing the project to meet current restrictions and make sure our clients will still receive some lovely gifts in December. We will have gift baskets created locally for our clients and, through the support of donors, purchase the gift items that will go into the baskets.
We're looking for gift sponsors! If you would like to sponsor a holiday gift basket for one or more of our homebound clients, please donate on the Kitchen Angels donation page. Just select "Spirit of Giving" from the drop down menu. The cost of one basket is $50, but if you can't donate that much, any amount is appreciated. Feel free to purchase more than one gift basket as well! We have approximately 170 clients on service.
If we all chip in, we can make the holidays brighter for our homebound clients.
 Kitchen Angels is excited to have our first intern, coming to us through the Santa Fe Community College. Ambrose Bickett will be assisting Joe in the kitchen until December. He will be learning how to prepare the daily meals, print out labels, manage the kitchen, perform inventory, and assist with the frozen meal program. Ambrose was born and raised in Santa Fe. He has worked at World Central Kitchen, Coyote Cafe, Four Seasons Encantado, and Upper Crust Pizza. Ambrose has a passion for food, so it seems that he found the right spot to land as an intern! Please welcome him to the kitchen.
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Tasty Tidbits
Breakfast has always been considered the most important meal of the day and September is Healthy Breakfast Month! Whether you enjoy eating a large breakfast every day or prefer a small snack in the morning, Love and Lemons has over sixty healthy breakfast recipes for the morning person in all of us. Restaurant-like breakfast bowls look especially good. Choose from a rice or quinoa or grain base and add roasted vegetables, eggs, and even fruit.  Like adults, kids have trouble eating healthy breakfasts too, especially before school. Since remote or online learning during Covid-19 might not be as stimulating as going to class and hanging out with friends, making your kids and grandkids eat a healthy and energizing breakfast can make all the difference in a school day full of Zoom meetings. The Spruce Eats has thirty-eight back-to-school recipes that hopefully will make morning before school that much better.
A useful tool for cooking all of these new breakfasts, from pancakes to eggs, is a cast iron skillet. Now if you haven't inherited an old cast iron from your grandmother or if you've heard horror stories of people putting their cast iron in the dishwasher, you might be afraid to try out this old school frying pan. Never fear! Pocket Worthy has an article dispelling some cast iron myths. The quick takeaway: yes, you can use soap on your cast iron skillet. If you're still not sure cast iron is right for your cooking adventures, stop into Kitchenality and pick up gently-used cast iron while supporting Kitchen Angels at the same time.  Once you have that cast-iron skillet, take advantage of summer's bounty and cook some of those homegrown tomatoes in it. Blistering cherry tomatoes in a cast-iron pan is a great way to unlock some of that summer sweetness without cooking the tomatoes down to a sauce. The Kitchn has a super quick five-minute recipe for blistered cherry or grape tomatoes and capers that works as a side dish, pasta topping, or for a bruschetta.
Now, if you are interested in making a tomato sauce, the New York Times just published three infographics of Italian chef Marcella Hazan. The recipes are incredibly easy and can use a mixture of canned and fresh tomatoes. Remember, these are simple traditional Italian sauces, most consisting of just three or four basic ingredients.
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Volunteer Opportunities
We need volunteers in every area! Spread the word to your friends.
Substitute Delivery Drivers (4:30 - 6:30pm)
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Kitchen AM Shift (10am - 12pm)
- Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Kitchen PM Shift (1 - 3pm)
Substitute Delivery Prep (2 - 5:30pm)
Kitchenality Volunteers
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Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Please tell people who may be interested to call Lauren at 471-7780
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Continuing Education
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Miners with their children at a Labor Day celebration in Silverton, Colorado
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Around the corner is another Covid-19 soaked holiday: Labor Day. Labor Day really has a two-fold meaning. It began as a celebration of the American worker, becoming a federal holiday during the burgeoning labor movement in the United States in 1894. More recently, Labor Day has come to signal the end of the summer season, with kids returning to school and parents beginning to hunker down for the fall and quickly approaching holidays. But both back-to-school and the workday look extremely different this year. So how do we celebrate a changed workforce and the end of a summer that never really started?
First, read this short article about the very first Labor Day celebration in New York City in 1882. Twenty-five thousand union members and their families marched through Manhattan to a local park and spent the whole afternoon drinking beer and picnicking. Obviously, a crowd of 25,000 today is unimaginable, but you can still celebrate Labor Day safely with a few ideas from Martha Stewart. In Santa Fe specifically, Motorama at the Downs, the new drive-in movie theater, is an absolute treat during our physically distant times. With reserved parking spaces, food trucks, and the requisite popcorn and candy, it feels almost . . . normal. As a reminder to everyone, Governor Lujan Grisham warned that holiday weekends tend to exacerbate the Covid-19 crisis. She wants all New Mexicans to remember to keep their gatherings to no more than five people. Labor Day is also an important day for New Mexico because the governor's health order stipulated that in-person classes might resume for students after the holiday. Whether or not this will happen still remains to be seen. Fifteen percent of all new cases of Covid-19 in New Mexico are in people under the age of 20, one of the highest infection rates of young people in the entire country. Such statistics will no doubt be weighed by the governor and the Department of Health as they determine the best course of action after Labor Day.
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Community Connections
 Tito's Handmade Vodka out of Austin, Texas, has shortened the miles between our communities by becoming donors. They contacted us in August and asked if we could use an entire pallet of hand sanitizer. We do go through the stuff quickly, and we have the space, so we agreed to accept the shipment. What a generous gift!
Since March, Tito's has shifted their production of vodka to hand sanitizer. They have donated thousands of gallons to front line workers in Texas, then started sharing with nonprofits and other agencies in surrounding states.
We're grateful to be recognized for the good work we're doing, and thank you for seeing the need and filling the gap.
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Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!
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| | Angels from left to right: Barbara, Johnny, Ricky, Jane, Patrick, Joe |
Kitchen Angels is a community of people filled with care and hope. We show up for one another. We look after those who fall ill. We keep people nourished - body and soul. Every now and again, the tables turn and a volunteer becomes a client. This was the case for Ricky Burwell.
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We will miss that smile
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Ricky started volunteering January 2018. He brought people together from the start with his southern drawl, big smile, and "Hi, y'all" when he'd enter the kitchen. Everyone agrees - it was easy to love Ricky.
Tragedy struck in January 2020. Ricky was hit by a car while walking to the grocery store. He suffered a broken wrist and thigh. While in the hospital he was diagnosed with diabetes, then in March, doctors found he had advanced cancer.
The kitchen volunteers rallied and assisted him in many ways throughout his illness. They got him situated in a beautiful room with a view at a new hospice called Scott's House, founded by our dear friend Glenys Carl. Meg Mizewa left the kitchen shift to volunteer at Scott's House to care for Ricky, while two Janes, Barbara and Hardy took turns visiting him daily until his peaceful death on Monday, August 3rd.
Here are a few words from the Tuesday kitchen volunteers in memory of Ricky . . .
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Barbara sealing the deal
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Ricky struck me as a quiet spirit filled with an unspoken kindness and love of art. He remained determined beyond most. I was grateful to share in his care when he needed it. None of us needs to make that last journey alone. Godspeed, Ricky.
~Meg Mizewa
Ricky's spirits remained positive throughout this ordeal; most importantly, he was always polite and gracious with all his caregivers. It was a deep pleasure to abide with Ricky on his last journey. ~Barbara Belding
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| | | Hardy & Jane bringing the treats | |
We are blessed that he was in our life, even briefly, as he was a kind soul. ~Jane Ure & Hardy Acree
Ricky was loved and he felt so grateful to Glenys and his Kitchen Angels family. He brought such love to us all. Thank you Ricky, I shall truly miss you. ~Jane Shea
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| | Jane leading with her heart |
Ricky's family was deeply grateful for the love and dedication shown him in the last months of his life. The Burwell Family wrote:
When Ricky chose to volunteer at Kitchen Angels, little did he know about God's predestined plan to provide him with friends and a family that would come to love and care for him throughout the most challenging times of his life. As Ricky's family, we have been truly blessed by you by all the many meals delivered to him as well as the support rendered to him and us. Thank you for caring for Ricky with a "Mother's Love." The impact you made in his life was profound. We are beyond grateful.
We are terribly sad to have lost Ricky, but his parting gift to us was to bring more people together in loving kindness. Thank you all for doing such good work, for showing up and cooking meals, for delivering to our friends and neighbors, and for being kind to one another.
In the words of Ram Dass, "We're all just walking each other home."
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Copyright © 2012. All Rights Reserved.
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