Festive get together for Jersey's caring cooks

Saturday 24 December 2016

The Founder of a local charity, which was set up to support families and get children eating better, opened up the doors of her own home to serve up a festive feast and say a big thank you to her team of volunteers.

Over half of the 40 people who currently volunteer for Caring Cooks met up for the get together at Melissa Nobrega's home just before Christmas.

Mrs Nobrega and her family prepared an array of Christmas goodies themselves and served it all along with meat and cheese platters donated by local business Cured.

The volunteers who help out at the charity range in age from twenty something’s to retirees and many have been part of the team since its inception. They prepare and cook up weekly meals, help deliver them and help with administrative tasks and fundraising.

Mrs Nobrega said: “We have a birthday party every year to celebrate the birth of Caring Cooks, but we have had such an amazing year, with new volunteers and Board Trustees joining the team that we thought a Volunteer Christmas Soiree would be a great idea. Obviously we wanted to make sure it wasn’t too expensive so we held it at our home and prepared the food ourselves.

“My husband and children were all involved, they have been a part of the charity since it began, and it’s important to me that my children understand why we do what we do.”

Caring Cooks was established in February 2014; the aim of the charity is to positively empower and influence the future health of Jersey’s children, and young people, by supporting families to make nutritious and tasty food part of daily life.

In 2016 the charity has prepared and delivered over 3,500 meals to island families in crisis. It has given parents the confidence and the skills to cook their family meals from scratch, helping to reduce the reliance on processed food.

The team has also created working Kitchen Gardens in three States primary schools, giving more than 600 children the opportunity to plant, grow and harvest fruits and vegetables and learn to prepare simple meals.

Mrs Nobrega said: “When I first set up Caring Cooks I never imagined that three years later we would be where we are today, changing and influencing the future health of Jersey. It’s been a journey of hard work, love and an unfounding desire to make families lives, not only now but in the future, better, but one I couldn’t have done alone.

“Our volunteers are the lifeblood of the organisation and they don’t just deliver the services that everyone sees, but they go the extra mile all the time. They get to know our families, and without asking, they always do more, like a Christmas present or a bag of shopping. I am incredibly proud of them all, and consider them to be part of my own family and am so grateful for their support.”