Over 100 homeless families have been placed in motels in Swansea and Somerset by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Restrictions only allow microwave ovens and a small refrigerator for each unit, making cooking a healthy meal a huge challenge. To address this problem, volunteers and members of the Swansea First Christian Congregational Church held a Healthy Cooking Day at the Church and arranged transportation so that families could get some ideas about how they can shop wisely and prepare healthy microwave meals. Volunteers Dawn and Raymond Pelletier arranged for chefs from Kajuns Hot Dogs, PieZoni's, Bristol Community College Culinary Arts and Johnson and Wales, and financial support from Cabot Cheese to bring free food and demonstrate a number of easy meals to over 178 people. Arts and crafts were offered for the children, and several organizations, including WIC, Partners and the 4-H were on hand to offer information. Donations of nonperishable food items were also collected for distribution to the families. Click here for photos of another effort to help held at the Church. Click here for a six-minute video of the event. For more information, contact the Church Pastor, Rev. Holly Norwick, at 508-673-7179. 

(Top row) First Christian Congregational Church member Dawn Pelletier directs children to cooking lessons offered by Bristol Community College Culinary Arts instructor Gloria Cabral. (Row two) Some of the recipes on display include one for cauliflower au gratin and ham roll-ups as well as fresh tomatoes and peppers that can be added to microwaved eggs. (Row three) Before Ms. Cabral offers ideas for preparing low cost dishes made with rice and beans, Kajuns chef Jay Young offers instruction on cooking sausage and eggs in a microwave. (Bottom row) WIC Community Outreach Coordinator Lisa Alves signs parents up for the WIC Program while Partners School Wellness Coordinator Marcia Picard talks about alternatives to sugar-sweetened beverages like soda and juice, and volunteer Alyssa Martell shows participants some microwave recipes that they can try.