Giving Thanks: Shout-out to our Kitchen Crew
When COVID-19 hit Toronto, food insecurity surged and Sanctuary faced a huge increase in demand for our weekly meals. At the same time, we had to implement cleaning and safety protocols that made our meals more labour intensive than ever before.
In the face of this overwhelming challenge, we turned to our community. We hired around 10 folks who had been volunteering in our kitchen and hanging-out at Sanctuary for years to be our official kitchen and cleaning crew. As we learned more about the demands of operating during a pandemic, we hired several more people to help serve food and clean between drop-ins.
Our crew of cooks, cleaners, and servers have worked with amazing energy and passion these past 7 months, and there is no way that we could have stayed open and served over 700 meals a week without them.
I stole a few minutes recently to chat with Dominique, who has been part of our kitchen crew on Thursday and Sunday nights, so that she could share a bit about what it’s been like for her to work at Sanctuary during the pandemic.
What is your role?
Making sure that the food is well prepared. Making sure there’s enough food for everyone till the end of the night. Working to maintain a good spirit between all the team members in the kitchen. Cleaning the grill. Having a positive attitude and keeping things upbeat. Being encouraging and trying to make people feel better. Like, if someone comes in for dinner and they are emotionally feeling like a 5/10, we want them to be feeling like a 7/10 or an 8/10 before they leave.
How would you describe your kitchen team?
We do our best to be organized in what can sometimes feel like chaotic circumstances. We all help to resolve situations. We are a solid support system.
What is your favorite part of working in the kitchen at Sanctuary?
I like to clean the grill. I’m alone at night when I’m cleaning it, but I like that. I get some excercise!
I also like to bake, and I like whenever I can offer sweets to people.
And there’s always Diet Pepsi in the fridge!