My name is Sammy Stein-Avner. I'm the executive director of Tikkun Ha-Ir of Milwaukee. Tikkun Ha-Ir meaning repair the city in Hebrew.
We rent a location here at this church to use their kitchen for our veggie chop shop program. The veggie chop shop program is a community meal program that we've been running for the last 10 years. It utilizes gleaned or donated produce, mostly from farmer's markets, but also from some other gardens and farms around the community. And then we turn it into fresh, delicious, vegetarian meals that we put out to the community for free. We put out on average around 400 meals a week. The program has been going on since 2015. And it was the brainchild of Karen Royster who previously worked for Tikkun Ha-Ir. And Karen was also a volunteer at a prison around the corner, the Milwaukee Women's Correctional Center, and identified that they were looking for some volunteer opportunities. So she put these pieces together and invited, well, we both have volunteers from the community, as well as women from the prison coming and actually doing the labor together. Sunday is where we glean from the Fondy Farmer's Market.
We got all of this kale. We got lots of green beans. What are we gonna do with all these tomatoes? There's zucchini coming out of our ears. What are we gonna do with it? And so our chef and our food justice director, Brandice, they work to create what the menu will be. And then Monday and Tuesday, we welcome volunteers.
The really cool stuff that we do is around food justice and civic engagement. And as an independent Jewish organization, it's really important that we are a positive presence in the community.
Veggie Chop Shop is an important program because it helps to build equity within Milwaukee. We identified that there is surplus in some parts of the city and deficit in other parts of the city. And so Veggie Chop Shop does its part to help bring that surplus into places where there is a lack of access to fresh produce and fresh, delicious meals.
We rent a location here at this church to use their kitchen for our veggie chop shop program. The veggie chop shop program is a community meal program that we've been running for the last 10 years. It utilizes gleaned or donated produce, mostly from farmer's markets, but also from some other gardens and farms around the community. And then we turn it into fresh, delicious, vegetarian meals that we put out to the community for free. We put out on average around 400 meals a week. The program has been going on since 2015. And it was the brainchild of Karen Royster who previously worked for Tikkun Ha-Ir. And Karen was also a volunteer at a prison around the corner, the Milwaukee Women's Correctional Center, and identified that they were looking for some volunteer opportunities. So she put these pieces together and invited, well, we both have volunteers from the community, as well as women from the prison coming and actually doing the labor together. Sunday is where we glean from the Fondy Farmer's Market.
We got all of this kale. We got lots of green beans. What are we gonna do with all these tomatoes? There's zucchini coming out of our ears. What are we gonna do with it? And so our chef and our food justice director, Brandice, they work to create what the menu will be. And then Monday and Tuesday, we welcome volunteers.
The really cool stuff that we do is around food justice and civic engagement. And as an independent Jewish organization, it's really important that we are a positive presence in the community.
Veggie Chop Shop is an important program because it helps to build equity within Milwaukee. We identified that there is surplus in some parts of the city and deficit in other parts of the city. And so Veggie Chop Shop does its part to help bring that surplus into places where there is a lack of access to fresh produce and fresh, delicious meals.