COMMUNITY EVENTS
Monthly Homeless Cooking Project
St. Clouds Salon - First Tuesday of every month
Annual Madrona BBQ Festival - Soundstage Sponsor
“Bread and Water” – Friends of the Cedar River Watershed Fundraisers
Dine-Out for Life – AIDS Fundraiser
Dine for Darfur Fundraiser
Victims of Hurrican Katrina Fundraiser
CHARITABLE DONATIONS
Donated over $5,000 each year in the last 3 years toward fundraising events.
Emphasis on
• Kids and Education
• Arts organizations, with our long-standing relationship with the theatre community in Seattle
• Social Causes reflective of the progressive Madrona community
Mayor’s End Hunger Award
Restaurant Neighbor Award – Cornerstone Humanitarian
ST. CLOUDS MONTHLY HOMELESS COOKING PROJECT
“Providing an hour of dignity and good food to people who find too little of both in their lives.”
In keeping with St. Clouds mission of “providing a place where orphans come to find a sense of home and family,” owners Paul Butler and John Platt opened up St. Clouds kitchen to the community to come together and cook dinner for our 125 new neighbors at Tent City, hosted by St. Therese Church, in August 2001. Inspired by the outpouring of generosity by so many volunteers, by the warm and grateful reception from the Tent City residents, and by the fresh, bright, interesting food that was prepared, we committed to a monthly cooking project that now feeds over two hundred people at five shelters each month. We create a unique menu each month with dishes made from scratch, created on the spot, as we survey the food donations and ideas of the participants, putting the various foods and people together to make them sing! We invite any and all of you to join in. We hope by the act of creating a meal together, we can build more connections among ourselves and provide an hour of dignity and good food for those who find too little of both in their lives.
Who We Feed
• YWCA Women and Children’s Shelter - Downtown
• The Men’s Inn, housed in the basement of the First Methodist Church - Downtown
• Peace for the Streets – a teen drop-in center on Capital Hill
• YWCA Opportunity Place - Downtown
• Jubilee Women’s Center – Capital Hill
• Tent City 3 – Moves around Seattle
When We Cook and How You Can Help
On the Third Wednesday of Every Month, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m, we cook up a feast of fresh, innovative food with the help of your many hands and hearts. It’s simple – bring yourself, a cutting board, knife, peeler & apron, and some raw materials (fresh produce, flavor bursts, staples – more detail below). Oh yes, bring your sense of humor and creativity too, along with a strong “go-for-it” attitude! Some come for all four hours, some for only an hour or two. All are welcome. Some cook, some chop, some label, and some wash dishes; many do it all. Best to arrive early to facilitate the process. Typical schedule: 9 – 10 a.m. = prep (chop, peel, wash, trim, etc.) 10 – Noon = cook, create, begin to package food for transport. 12:30 – 1 p.m. – clean up.
If you can’t come but wish to support the cause, we appreciate tax deductible financial donations that pay for the central protein we pre-purchase each month. Make checks out to Neighborhood Cooking Foundation and send to or drop off at St. Clouds.
Suggestions for Food Donations: we hope people who come to volunteer (or those who can’t but want to donate food) will bring some of the following. Note that we do not need meat or fish, as we prepurchase the central proteins for the day.
1) Fresh produce – go to a market and buy some nice looking fresh produce (veggies, fruit, berries, greens…)
2) Flavor Bursts – maybe you like spicy ingredients, or olives, or cheese, or Asian twists(sesame oil, ginger, coconut milk, curry paste…), or barbeque…
3) Staples – maybe you prefer to play it safe and solid – cream, butter, eggs, potatoes, rice, pasta, etc.
Whatever you bring, John will find a way to use it! Meanwhile, co-owner Paul Butler heads up the dishpit!
Madrona restaurants Dulces Latin Bistro and the Hi-Spot both also take part by preparing food to accompany the food prepared by volunteers at St. Clouds
STEWART STERN'S "MEATLOAF WITH A CAUSE"
On the Monday preceding our monthly homeless cooking, we are proud to serve our Meatloaf With a Cause. This tangy and sweet meatloaf gets served with our mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans. It’s delicious, full of the comfort you crave in meatloaf, with interesting touches to make it perhaps the meatloaf you’ve always longed for. The recipe was gifted to us by dear friend of St. Clouds and famous screenwriter, Stewert Stern, best known perhaps for his scripts for “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Sybil”. When he heard about our monthly Homeless Cooking Adventure, he offered us the recipe (along with a slice of the meatloaf that sent John to heaven with the taste of it) if we promised to use it for what he calls, “John’s good cause: giving the best to comfort people who need it.” So, we serve it each month on the Monday preceding the homeless cooking project, as a way of reminding all of our guests of what we do to help feed the homeless in Seattle. Our dear thanks to Stewart, who tells us Jimmy Dean always took a second helping.
