Little Chef Program Connects Kids and Families to Cooking and Farms

October 2024 - Published in: 2024 Fall Newsletter - Recently, MSCF awarded a $3,000 grant to the Bristol Child Development Center for the expansion of their Little Chef program. This program is a hands-on culinary and gardening experience for both students and their families, where they gain cooking and gardening skills as well as learn nutritional recipes with local produce. Little Chef has allowed the Bristol Child Development Center to establish and maintain relationships with local farmers, which has enriched the educational experiences of the students. The program has recently expanded, having been added to the summer camp (children ages six to ten), the infants & toddlers program (twelve weeks to two-year-olds), and in-school cooking events, a farm celebration, and enhanced recipes and resource bags for families.

MSCF staff visited the Bristol Child Development Center and saw the Little Chef program in action. Campers were engaged in making salsa while learning how to safely chop tomatoes and peppers with child-friendly knives. Later, when asked about the impact of this program, Maegan Adams, Executive Director, and Jo Lopez-Lynch, Education Coordinator, said, “The feedback we received from families confirmed the program’s impact, with many reporting that they were now able to provide their children with farm-fresh produce for the first time. Others shared that because of our program their children had newfound interests in farming and healthy cooking. Many also shared that they were now regularly visiting our partner farms.”

The grant to Bristol Child Development Center was awarded with distributions from the Pat & Bob Wollenberg Family Fund for the Community, the Fuller and Myrtle Barnes Fund for Education, and the Karen and Kim Murphy Family Charitable Fund. With the overwhelmingly positive feedback for the Little Chef program in its first two years, Adams and Lopez-Lynch are looking forward to using this grant to further expand the program. “Our Little Chef program has emerged as a standout feature of our Center, consistently capturing the enthusiasm and participation of our families. We are thrilled to continue this vital work, thanks to the generous grant support from Main Street Community Foundation. This grant not only acknowledges our efforts but also empowers us to continue offering high-quality learning opportunities for our children and families through strong community partnerships. It is an honor and privilege to serve our community in this capacity.”