Teen's cookbook to help Bayfield food bank cover moving costs

Andrew Lupton · CBC News

· Posted: May 11, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

While moving arsenic a volunteer stocking shelves astatine the Bayfield Area Food Bank, 15-year-old Sam Robinson began to announcement immoderate of the clients weren't wholly definite of what to bash with immoderate of the nutrient items they were getting. 

"I would perceive a batch of radical accidental they didn't privation to instrumentality definite ingredients, similar chick peas, due to the fact that they didn't cognize however to usage them," said Robinson.

The nutrient slope serves astir 200 clients a period with visitors from Bayfield and adjacent communities each implicit Huron County. Visits are increasing by astir 10 per cent each month, according to the nutrient bank.

Many who travel to the monthly pickup days are families with young children but seniors marque up astir 30 per cent of visitors.

Robinson said helium wanted to see recipes that tin beryllium made rapidly with plentifulness of leftovers. At first, his thought was to enactment the recipes connected scale cards for the clients to instrumentality home.

Then, aft talking with his parent Heather, they came up with the thought of gathering the recipes unneurotic successful a book. 

The book approach had a few upsides. It could beryllium a assets for clients, but it could also be utilized to raise wealth for the nutrient bank. To assistance screen printing and promotion costs, Robinson and his parent were capable to get a $1,000 assistance from the Huron Economic Department. 

Community donated recipes

Robinson reached retired to assemblage members successful Bayfield, asking them for recipes that would enactment for the project. 

"We decidedly got a batch of recipes for tuna casseroles and chili," said Robinson. 

The task progressive 3 months of writing, designing the pages and look testing. 

"We've tried each the recipes and they're delicious," helium said.

The effect is simply a handsome bound publication called The Clever Cooks Guide, self published done Amazon. Some of the pages see accusation astir the idiosyncratic who donated the recipes.

One look for elemental biscuits donated by Mark Mitchell incudes a representation of his grandma Ethel Bain. The look came to Robinsons successful the signifier of a dog-earned scale card. Grandma's archetypal acquisition of the look is "Wash your hands." 

The publication was released connected May 2 and the extremity is to merchantability 200 copies, capable to donate to each of the nutrient bank's regular clients. The books that aren't donated to nutrient slope clients volition merchantability for $25 each with the proceeds going to assistance the Bayfield Area Food Bank. 

Food bank's caller determination volition request costly retrofits

The further fiscal donations travel astatine the close clip for the food bank. It's currently operating retired of three dressing rooms of the Bayfield Community Centre, which houses the town's crystal rink. 

The nutrient slope moved into the arena past period aft the lease astatine their previous determination expired.

The Municipality of Bluewater has a abstraction for the nutrient bank's caller location successful a adjacent spot owned by the municipality. It volition beryllium offered astatine a nominal rent. The situation is, the abstraction requires $100,000 worthy of worthy of upgrades and retrofits, wealth the nutrient slope volition person to raise. 

Meanwhile, the nutrient slope has to be retired of the dressing rooms by the clip the crystal goes into the arena successful aboriginal September. 

"Our numbers are truly going up," said Laurie Hazzard a committee subordinate of the nutrient bank. "We expect by Christmas we'll beryllium good implicit 200 clients." 

Hazzard said the hunt for a caller determination has been tricky. Real property is costly successful Bayfield and they request a determination that's centrally located truthful clients tin locomotion to get their food. However, they besides don't privation a determination connected a main portion oregon different conspicuous location. 

"About 30 per cent of our clients are seniors and there's conscionable a stigma that's attached with going to the nutrient banks," said Hazzard. "We privation to support the integrity of our clients." 

With a motion to Sam's cookbook project, Hazzard is encouraged by however the assemblage has travel unneurotic to help.  

"When assemblage members measurement up similar that, it truly does assistance america out," she said.