The months of April, May, June and July have been extremely busy.  We closed out our old kitchen which was rented from the First United Methodist Church Kitchen, closed out of our temporary cold and frozen storage area at the old “Tina’s” kitchen, and installed new equipment and ensconced ourselves at our new location on South Washington Street.  We are continuing to serve our contracts with the Head Start Nutrition Sites and with the Project School, and for the summer we have been providing meals to school age children for the Banneker Center Summer Lunch Program.  We continue to emphasize our special events catering and look forward to working on product development.

The Food Works Kitchen is a shared-use kitchen.  We will be sharing the kitchen with members of the community who are starting up small food businesses through a program currently called BKI (Bloomington Kitchen Incubator), and with other members of the Community Food Grant Group which helped make the kitchen a reality.  There is a walk-in cooler and sink area available for local growers through the Local Growers Guild. The Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard has already used the kitchen for “rescuing” food into food products they can give out as samples to their clients.  Classes by Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard have also been scheduled, as have classes with the People’s University.

Food Works for Middle Way House prepares your food from scratch.  We strive to use the freshest and highest quality ingredients. We look for fruits and vegetables that are in season and make an effort to purchase locally.  All proceeds earned by Food Works go to Middle Way House a national model domestic violence program located in Bloomington, Indiana.

In addition to this very imortant point, Food Works works on a very active and engaged level to provide opportunities to women who are victims of domestic violence to become economically self-sufficient while providing real culinary skills, a safe and supportive work environment, and a valuable work history to present to future employers.

It is our firm belief that building a stronger community for everyone will build a stronger and safer community for the women it is our mission to serve.  We are very thankful to the new opportunities that are waiting for both ourselves and all community members who may benefit from this endeavor.

Quilts donated by Quilters Guild to Middle Way House's new shelter

On April 30, the Quilters Guild displayed almost 50 quilts members made for Middle Way House’s new emergency shelter at the New Wings facility. The occasion was an open house which gave New Wings Community Partnership members a chance to see the building.  This display was made at the kitchen prior to opening.

Middle Way House has been fund raising for months as part of its New Wings Project to renovate the old Coca-Cola Bottling Co. building at 318 S. Washington Street and build offices, an emergency shelter, day care, affordable housing for women without children, and a new kitchen for Food Works for Middle Way House.

This new licensed commercial kitchen will centralize Food Works’ current and ongoing catering business (we currently rent two kitchens!) and will also serve as an incubator for small-business owners interested in bringing locally created food items to market. This project is the result of months and years of coordination between Middle Way House, the Local Grower’s Guild, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, and numerous other local organizations and groups who have worked together to implement the Growing Healthy Communities Grant. This grant is just one component of the funds being pulled together to make the New Wings Project possible.

As a result of this coordination of efforts, the Local Grower’s Guild facilitated the creation of the Bloomington Kitchen Incubator (BKI). The Bloomington Kitchen Incubator ?????? ????? ???? is an independent non-profit that will coordinate with Food Works’ kitchen management so that this new kitchen facility provides support to local growers, entrepreneurs, and community members in preparing, packaging, and distributing locally produced foods.

It is gratifying to have the fruits of this enormous effort to be within reach. We know that we will get there and would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our wonderful community for their support. If you have driven by the old Coke Building have probably noticed that construction has been underway, and the building project should be successfully completed by next October. It is hoped that Food Works will be able to move into the kitchen sooner than that in order to transition from the two existing kitchens without an interruption in business services and also to set up equipment and training so that a strong foundation is laid for the success of the Bloomington Kitchen Incubator.

One additional note: Middle Way House (MWH) is working to make this building project as sustainable as possible. In addition to the Food Works

?????????? ????? ???? ? ????????? commercial kitchen area there will also be a small retail space for Food Works ?????? ????? ???? . The second floor will be renovated to provide six one-bedroom transitional housing apartments for former MWH clients. Topping all of that will be a roof top garden. Adjacent to the kitchen will be refrigeration storage, dry storage, and a loading and unloading area for local growers. The attached, one-story brick warehouse will be developed as a child care facility. A new three-story structure will house Middle Way’s administrative offices, crisis intervention and supportive services, and shelter. There will also be solar panels which are expected to provide enough power to heat all water used for the kitchen.

Thank you for helping us grow and build a healthy community!

Welcome to 2009!