The dining room of the Community Kitchen of Monroe County was populated with members of the Bloomington community Sunday, a common-enough sight. Unlike anyone who walks in the door during the rest of the year, though, the patrons of Sunday’s brunch had to pay for their meals.
The proceeds from this brunch will support various programs run by the CK, a Bloomington non-profit dedicated to eliminating hunger in the local area. Diners paid $65 for the three-course brunch.
The CK serves dinner to anyone who needs it at their 1515 S. Rogers St. and 1100 W. 11th St. locations, and via their food truck, every Monday through Saturday. Furthermore, it hosts fundraising brunches quarterly. The next one will be in May.
Vicki Pierce, executive director of the CK, said that the benefits of the fundraising brunches aren’t just monetary, though she didn’t downplay the approximately $6500 that this one will raise.
“We always leave this event with at least a couple of folks who decided to be a regular monthly donor or who have decided to volunteer or whatever,” Pierce said. “So, it sort of strengthens our connection to the community in a variety of ways.”
Pierce said volunteers help to prepare, serve and clean up dinner, as well as pack food for carryout programs. She said anyone interested in helping out can contact June Taylor, the kitchen’s volunteer coordinator.
Hosting people who otherwise may never come inside the CK is another goal of the brunches, Kyla Cox Deckard, president of the CK board of directors, said.
“It's a great way for us to show people what the kitchen looks like, (for them) to experience, you know, eating a meal within the kitchen and get to see the way that the whole operation functions on a day-to-day basis,” Cox Deckard said.
Cox Deckard pointed out the CK is for all members of the Bloomington community who need it, including IU students.
“Anyone, for any reason, can always get a meal from the community kitchen,” Cox Deckard said. “We don't ask any questions. You're not required to fill out any kind of application. If you just find yourself in need of a meal for any reason, you can stop by here.”
The building where the brunch took place was itself partly the result of a brunch. Cox Deckard said that the recurring brunches have their roots in a fundraising drive to raise money to build the Rogers Street location.
“We had a brunch for some prospective capital campaign donors to invite them in to hear more about the capital campaign project,” Cox Deckard said. “And then we just continued to host these brunches, and especially once we had this building built, we had the space to be able to invite people in.”
Pierce said using the CK building to host a meal that will help raise money for programs to feed community members made sense.
“The fact that we could feed people in our space and raise money for our programs for the other people who eat in our space sort of was a natural fit,” Pierce said.
Volunteers — many current or former chefs — prepare food for weekly meals and for the fundraising brunches. Bloomington’s food service workers have used their talents since the start of the quarterly brunches in 2015.
Seth Elgar, one of the volunteer chefs behind Sunday’s brunch, was the executive chef of Upland Brewing Company when he became a CK board member in October 2012. He helped come up with the idea of the fundraising brunches.
“It was just a brainchild of myself and Dan Williamson, who’s a former chef that now has his own insurance company,” Elgar said. “It was our idea of how to use the building when it's not in use to feed clients, to raise money and improve our community.”
Elgan said the money from the quarterly brunches is enough to feed around 2,500 people.
Guests at Sunday’s brunch dined on three courses: an appetizer, a main and a dessert, with gluten-free and vegan options available for each dish.
A potential meal included a roasted beet salad to start, cheddar-paprika biscuits with chorizo gravy as the entree and chocolate cake with raspberry compote to finish up.
They also imbibed in cocktails created by Cardinal Spirits, a Bloomington distillery. The “Red Queen” cocktail contained Cardinal Spirits gin, Cardinal Spirits flora liqueur and cranberry juice.
Cardinal Spirits has been part of the fundraising brunches from the beginning, Pierce said.
Chasity Butler, the events director for Cardinal Spirits, described the cocktail-creating process as taking stock of what drinks will complement the food and the theme. The Feb. 9 brunch featured red and pink libations in honor of the upcoming Valentine’s Day.
“I think we're just passionate about giving back to the community and helping in any way that we can,” Butler said.
The next brunch will take place in May. When the Community Kitchen releases details, they’ll do so on their events page: https://www.monroecommunitykitchen.com/events.
CORRECTION: This article has been corrected to provide the right amound raised.
