"Every fire season I show up to put in my work," says community hero Miriam Donaldson, founding chef of Sonoma Family Meal. "Please help me build a long term relief structure for Herzog Hall Kitchen at the Petaluma Fair Grounds for disaster evacuees."
The seasonal fires in Sonoma County affect everyone in our community, but the acute impact to evacuees can be an extremely traumatic and hungry experience as I saw for myself volunteering with Petaluma People Services at the fairgrounds last year.
"While there are non-profit groups that help manage the workload of cooking and comforting those who need it most, the actual physical work often falls on the backs of volunteer chefs and community members," says Miriam, whose farm-to-table restaurant Wishbone is beloved by foodies around the Bay Area.
Last year during fire season Mariam headed the kitchens at the Petaluma Fair Grounds, which housed up to 700 evacuees. "Now thats a LOT of hungry folks who need and deserve care," she says.
"Our little group managed to do it and do it well! We installed new kitchen equipment on the fly, pulled together healthy meals for hundreds and worked closely with the other evacuation sites in petaluma to share resources. This year we will be stretched thinner than ever and safe care for our community will be even more important."
Miriam aims to bring this vital community kitchen fully up to safety code, equip chefs and kitchen volunteers with the proper equipment (ever try making rice for 700 in a regular kitchen pot!?) and establish a mobile community accessible kitchen kit that may be dispatched to various relief kitchens as needed.
"Basically, I need lots of big pots and pans, a small trailer to move things around, PPE for volunteers, and a huge list of small wares.," says Miriam.
Monies contributed to this fund will directly impact those in crisis and will help lower the environmental impact of cooking for so many people. Good planning reduces single use plastic, water and food waste. Funds will also aid long term support solutions for our community. A kitchen that is built to perform relief is cheaper and safer to run than one cobbled together in a panic.
So let's do what we can to help Miriam plan ahead! She'll do the work, but she needs our help. In an ideal scenario, the city and/or Fairgrounds committee would be outfitting this kitchen prior to fire season, given the past two years of experiences, but that's not happening. People caring for people and coming together in large numbers is what will make this happen in a timely fashion.
And don't think that this kitchen ramp-up is solely for outsiders seeking refuge in our town. There are many reasons why a community kitchen provides a lifeline to locals in times of emergency.
Here's Chef Miriam's GoFundMe page. Click here and let's get this done!