Every Saturday, Joe Shook and his team of Slow Food-UW volunteers, head down to Taft Street to promote learning and community building around food that is local, healthy, affordable, and delicious with the kids of the Dane County Boys and Girls Club. It’s part of a partnership that also includes tutoring and snacks on Wednesdays and introductions to sustainable living and gardening.
As the Family Voices intern with the Boys and Girls Club, and a member of the Slow Food-UW South Madison Team, Joe leads the Saturday outing to South Madison. Every week he creates a menu, trying to incorporate seasonal and local ingredients into all of the dishes and with an eye to keeping the meals healthy. Then on Saturday mornings, he purchases all the ingredients he can find at the Dane County Farmer’s Market, buying the rest at a traditional supermarket. Along with other Slow Food-UW volunteers, they drive to Taft Street and cook lunch with kids at the club for the tutoring program Family Voices, which pairs minority university students with kids in South Madison who need some extra help academically or socially. The tutors make a point of bringing their kids through the kitchen at least once every session, and there are also younger kids at the club that often join in the kitchen for the whole time to help cook.
For more information about Slow Food-UW and what they do:
http://slowfooduw.org/
For more information about the Family Voices Program:
http://www.sohe.wisc.edu/is/researchoutreach.html
