New Photos!
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La Cocina de la Paz Community Survey
After some hurdles that stall this project, we are back on track and have the funds to get this finally finished. We hope to be up and running by July for our Kid's Club Summer Program!
Our mission and vision statements for the Kitchen of Peace:
Vision: La Cocina de la Paz is a culinary community
where justice and equity are always on the plate.
Mission - La Cocina de la Paz is a kitchen and meeting space
where family celebrates,
entrepreneurs dream,
and neighbors organize
“Every revolution begins in the kitchen!”
In order to fulfill our vision and mission, we need you!
We are asking you to complete our community survey because we want to know how you would use La Cocina de la Paz because the kitchen is all about you and our community!
Please click the "Take the Survey" button below
to to help us prepare La Cocina de la Paz as a place of hospitality and hope!
And, please, share this survey with anyone you think might be interested!
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La Cocina de la Paz
Why? 65,000+ meals over 8 years - Grandview Park’s kitchen and pantry has become a center of community and welcome for the church and neighborhood. The sharing of food is central to our work of building community and making peace. Over the last 8 years more than 25,000 meals have been shared through our La Paz Kid’s Club summer program, more than 35,000 through our mission partnerships and more than 5000 on Sundays with the congregation. In addition, our pantry serves 100 families a week, supplementing family dinner tables in a neighborhood where food insecurity affects 40% of our neighbors.
This has all been done with a kitchen that has not seen a renovation in 131 years. It inhabits the oldest part of our 131-year-old church. Major systems such as plumbing and electrical are outdated and lack capacity for current and future levels of usage. Appliances, such as ovens and stoves are oftentimes unusable and always inefficient and insufficient for the need.
Sharing food is essential to the building of communities of peace and welcome from the family dinner table to building the culture of a neighborhood and community. We believe our kitchen is a centerpiece to grow peace and welcome in our neighborhood. We learned this from our own experience of developing community meals after worship. Increasingly we recognize the potential of our kitchen to add value to our vision of being a church in intimate relationship with our community.
Current Status
As of spring, 2023 our kitchen and dining spaces have been gutted and are awaiting a rebuild and resurrection. Cost and budget have been difficult to gauge as we are encountering many issues related to a structure that dates from 1890. We have secured most of the funds necessary to finish the commercial kitchen our community deserves and needs. Our hope is to have the project completed in summer of this year.
La Cocina de la Paz at Work 2021 and Beyond
Enhance Current Ministry - La Paz Summer Program – Daily meals, Kids in the Kitchen
Community Meals after worship, Short-term Mission Groups, Healthy Cooking Classes
Girl Scout Meals and Classes, Community Celebrations – Quinceñeras, birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, etc.
Partnership with CABA & La Placita – La Placita is an entrepreneurial program that occurs in
Bethany Park on Saturdays during the summer. La Cocina de la Paz will become the official kitchen for this program that allows micro food businesses to develop out of the neighborhood.
Future Ministry Hopes – La Paz Community Outreach,
Entrepreneurial Small Business Incubator, La Paz Relational Mission Trips, Cross Cultural Community Meals, Culinary Art Classes for Youth and Adults