the millerton news editorial

Happy B-Day, CCRK, here’s to many more

With more than 19 years of experience as the chef proprietor of the Hudson restaurant Charleston, Carole Clark was more than familiar with what it took to make a person feel satiated. However, it wasn’t until she sold her popular restaurant in 2006 and started working with local children, teaching them about the necessity of proper nutrition as well as how to garden, cook, bake and about the important ritual of sharing a meal that she realized what she described as “the enormity of the problem” of food insecurity.

Clark said she found the experience satisfying, but also difficult as it became painfully apparent that the majority of those children “had poor diets and lacked proper nutrition.”

Fast forward 14 years to 2020, when the world was in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clark became “obsessed with the idea of doing something to help people facing food insecurity,”  especially among those living in rural communities. It weighed on her mind as she had seen so many struggle with hunger during “normal” times. How were those people filling their plates and their children’s plates during the pandemic, while people were losing their homes, losing their jobs, losing their significant others, losing their stability, she wondered.

As Clark put it, she decided to use her “knowledge and experience as a chef proprietor of two restaurants to create a kitchen with volunteer chefs and to prepare and deliver meals in Columbia County.”

She called her project the Columbia County Recovery Kitchen (CCRK). To put things in motion, Clark called the Columbia County Board of Health (BOH) for the necessary certifications; Albany was backed up with applications due to the pandemic, but because she had connections at the BOH, the wheels moved quickly, she said. Once certified, she reached out to friends in the community and within two months the CCRK delivered its first 200 meals. That was on April 14, 2020.

One of the reasons it all happened so quickly, said Clark, was because COVID forced her to do her work over the telephone, including her search for a fiscal sponsor, insurance (the Columbia County Democratic Committee provided liability insurance), financial support, needy recipients and drivers.

“Due to the pandemic restrictions, I never actually met the volunteers and enablers until many weeks after we started,” said Clark. “The effort was charmed, so inspiring and gratifying.”

She had a choice of two church kitchens to prepare the meals in; her two paid chefs visited them and chose The Christ Church Episcopal on Union Street in Hudson.

On Thursday, April 14, the CCRK will proudly celebrate its second anniversary. It now delivers more than 900 meals each week and has an impressive 90 volunteers.

Unlike traditional food kitchens or food pantries, the made-from-scratch meals are delivered by volunteer drivers and drivers from the Department of Social Services and the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement directly to the homes of clients throughout Columbia County. That includes, among other municipalities, local communities like Copake, Copake Falls, Ancram, Ancramdale,  Gallatin, Hillsdale, Craryville, Taghkanic, Elizaville and those within the Taconic Hills School District.

The CCRK stresses that also unlike traditional pantries, which rely heavily on canned goods and carbohydrates, it strives to provide fresh, local ingredients, with balanced meals focused on proteins, seldom offered at food banks.

Its website, www.columbiacountyrecoverykitchen.org, reminds us that the CCRK “is an all-volunteer initiative.” So if you have the energy and ability, consider donating your time. If you can afford to, perhaps also consider contributing a few dollars, as the 501(c)3 nonprofit’s website additionally states that it relies on such donations to operate. Its financial support “comes from… fundraisers, social media and direct donations,” as well as grants.

It’s in the midst of a fundraising campaign this month, in recognition of its two-year anniversary. For details, we recommend you visit the CCRK’s website to learn more and consider giving a birthday gift to help feed our Columbia County neighbors.

the millerton news editorial

Latest News

'Gather' at Troutbeck

'Gather' at Troutbeck

Romane Recalde speaking about her new business at Gather.

Natalia Zukerman

Hosted by Jason Klein and Sascha Lewis, an ongoing series called “Gather” at Troutbeck in Amenia brings together a curious crowd of local entrepreneurs, artists, and others with a story to tell for an intimate midday chat. On Thursday, Jan. 16, floral designer Romane Recalde, owner of the newly opened Le Jardin in Amenia, took center stage to share her journey from modeling in Miami to cultivating flowers in the Hudson Valley. Gather is a place to share stories, swap advice, and celebrate some of the unique businesses that make our area vibrant — all with a delicious lunch on the side. The gatherings are unconventional in the best way, with no agenda beyond good conversation and community building.

Recalde’s story isn’t just about creating a flower shop; it’s about a complete reinvention of self. “I hated Miami so much,” said the French-born Recalde, recalling her time in Florida before moving to New York. She worked as a model in New York, and eventually met her husband, James. Their pandemic escape to Turks and Caicos turned into a six-month stay, which in turn led them to Millbrook and finally to their home in Amenia, where Recalde’s connection to nature blossomed.

Keep ReadingShow less
community

Mad Rose opens ‘Assembled’ exhibition

Mad Rose opens ‘Assembled’ exhibition

Mad Rose Gallery’s “Assembled” exhibition opened Saturday, Jan. 18, with a public reception.

The eclectic exhibition — on view until March 2 at the gallery on the intersection of Routes 22 and 44 in Millerton — gathers together work from a group of diverse artists with decades of experience between them. The exhibition itself is true to the name, featuring photographs, sculptures, drawings and mixed media works in all shapes and sizes.

Keep ReadingShow less
exhibit

The fragile bonds of family: a review of Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters'

The fragile bonds of family: a review of Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters'

Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters' is written with such verve and poetic imagination that it’s hard to fathom how it could be the author’s first novel. Ms. Lerner, 64, has worked for three decades as a literary agent, editor, and non-fiction writer, but at some point during the Covid pandemic — without any forethought — she sat down and typed out the first line of the novel exactly as it now appears in the book, and then completed it without telling anyone what she was up to.

The novel takes place over twenty years — from the 1970s into the ’90s — and is a kind of guide for that era. It reads like a memoir accompanied by some bouncy dialogue, but is actually a work of what’s called autofiction in which Lerner mixes her own experiences — including her own struggle with mental illness — with things she simply makes up. The fictional narrator is Amy Shred, the younger of two sisters in an upper-middle-class, secular Jewish family living in the suburbs of New Haven, Connecticut.

Keep ReadingShow less
books

Lazy, hazy days of...winter?

Lazy, hazy days of...winter?

This small stream is fishable, despite the wintry conditions. It probably won't be a pleasant or productive experience, but it can be done.

Patrick L. Sullivan

When syndicated columnists run out of ideas they do one of two things.

First they collect the last couple year’s worth of columns and call it a book. These are published to great acclaim from other syndicated columnists and show up in due course in gigantic, ziggurat-shaped mounds at Costco for $4.98 a pop.

Keep ReadingShow less