On Thursday, November 26th, the Peterborough County-City Health Unit launched a fundraising campaign for a public health kitchen at its new location at 185 King Street in downtown Peterborough. “Myrtle’s Kitchen” is named after the matriarch of the Smith family of AON Inc. and recognizes the family’s generous gift to the kitchen.
Myrtle’s Kitchen will support a wide range of community programs to create food security for vulnerable residents — in partnership with Nourish Project and other local partners — as well as nutrition and safe food handling programs.
“One in seven children live in food insecure households,” Board of Health Chair Lesley Parnell said at the launch event. “They go to school hungry. They go to bed hungry. Food prices have increased almost 8% in the past two years, costing the average family of four over $850 a month for food.”
The vision behind the kitchen is to improve the quality of life in the community through a shared regional meeting place where people can get healthy food and learn valuable life skills, while advocating for enough food for everyone.
The Smith family’s gift was made on behalf of Myrtle’s sons Hugh Smith, Braydon Smith, and the late Ross Smith, as well as AON Inc. Members of the Smith family who attended the event included Myrtle’s daughter-in-law Ruth Smith, Hugh Smith, and Myrtle’s grandson Todd Smith, Manager of Commercial Leasing at AON Inc. Brad Smith, another one of Myrtle’s grandsons and President and CEO of AON Inc., was unable to attend.
Myrtle’s Kitchen will be located on the second floor of the health unit’s Jackson Square location, and will feature a teaching kitchen, a multipurpose room for dining and learning, and a fully equipped food pantry. Photographs of Myrtle along with a memorial plaque will be placed in the location.
Myrtle, who was known for her love of cooking and the Peterborough community, recently passed away at the age of 100.
In the late 1930s, she and husband Arthur began a contracting, painting, and real estate business in Peterborough. By 1975, AON was one of the largest property management and real estate development firms in the region.
“Myrtle would have been so proud to have her name on a kitchen where others can practice their cooking skills,” said her daughter-in-law Ruth.
“Throughout her life, Myrtle loved to cook for her family and friends. She is remembered by so many for her generosity and hospitality, both at her home and the family cottage on Chemong Lake. We are still trying to duplicate her Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and brownies!”
At the launch event, the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough (CFGP) also presented a cheque for $50,000 to the health unit for building Myrtle’s Kitchen.
“This investment builds on the Community Foundation’s partnerships with local organizations such as Nourish and Food for Kids to promote a vital community where everyone has access to healthy food,” said Betty Morris, Board Chair of CFGP.
With the Smith family’s gift, the donation from CFGP, and donations from Flying Colours and Community Food Centres Canada, the health unit has raised $131,000 so far of the total $204,000 cost for the kitchen.
“We are enormously grateful for the Smith family’s generous gift and for all our donors to date,” said Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, Medical Officer of Health.
“The Health Unit is one of the few public organizations that operates its own food literacy and access programming with a trained chef on staff. Fundraising from this campaign will stretch well beyond the Health Unit too — it will benefit partners such as the Nourish Project who needed accessible space for their own programs.”
As the cost of the kitchen is not covered by usual funding sources, the health unit is seeking donations from others in the community for the remaining $73,000 needed to finish the kitchen.
While the fundraising campaign will allow people to “buy a seat” with a donation of $1,000, or “buy a table” with a donation of $5,000, the health unit welcomes any donations.
“No gift is too small when it comes to creating a food secure community,” said Dr. Salvaterra.
Since the health unit is a registered charity, all gifts are 100% tax deductible.
To make a donation call 705-743-1000, ext. 264 or donate online at www.pcchu.ca.
All photos by Bruce Head / kawarthaNOW.
