Reflections of a long-time volunteer

Sunday mornings you will usually find me at the shelter immersed in paint or foam craft shapes, teaching arts & crafts to the kids (moms are welcome to join in). Recently though there were three sisters at the shelter who loved arts and crafts but also had a strong desire to learn how to cook. I love to cook (especially bake) so I decided to "switch-up" our arts & crafts time to a kids cooking class. We would make chocolate chip cookies - from scratch of course!

Since I never know from week to week who will be at the shelter, I called ahead to confirm that the three girls were still there and learned that, not only were they still there, but I had five more kids for my cooking class ranging in ages from 4 to 12 years old! What was I getting myself into?

I decided to divide and conquer. I split the kids into two groups, each group making their own batch of cookies. This way everyone got to participate and do a little bit of everything! The older kids helped teach the younger ones how to crack open eggs (not one egg shell in the entire batter!). The younger kids loved dumping the chocolate chips into the batter and especially loved the aroma of the cookie dough when it was all put together.

The kids had a great time making the cookies and were really excited when the first batch came out of the oven! They were absolutely delicious and everyone had warm chocolate chip cookies for dessert at lunchtime!

I loved teaching the kids how to cook and just like arts and crafts, and without the kids realizing it, they were learning valuable lessons while having fun! We worked on boosting self confidence, following instructions, life skills, team work, sharing, math skills, and creativity...to name just a few.

I am looking forward to "switching-up" my arts & crafts class again!

- Joyce Blunt, volunteer

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