Tarrawanna kids learning ‘skills for life’ while frying bacon and eggs
BY KIRRALEE NICOLLE
When Corps Secretary Lyn Mather started Tarrawanna Salvation Army’s Kids in the Kitchen program, she was seeking a way to serve the community after her grandchildren had grown up and required less of her time.
What she didn’t realise was how much the community would respond. When she decided to launch Kids in the Kitchen at Tarrawanna, a suburb of Wollongong (NSW), almost seven years ago, no children were attending the corps for services or programs.
Now, 25 to 30 children aged eight to 12 apply each school term, but there are only 12 spaces available.
Lyn learned about the program from a story featuring its founder, Major Cathryn Williamson, who started Kids in the Kitchen in Cowra (NSW) in 2017.
“I picked up a copy of the Pipeline [former Australian Eastern Territory publication] and it had the story of Cathryn and Kids in the Kitchen. And straight away, I knew, this is it,” Lyn said.
“It was like God said, ‘Here’s the door, go through it, because this is what you’re going to do’.”
The program starts with children learning to cook bacon and eggs, then progresses through 10 weeks of recipes, including macaroni cheese, hamburgers and stir fry before, finally, participants cook a meal of fried rice for their families. Weekly sessions last for two hours and cover budgeting for food, understanding safety and earning recognition badges.
While the Kids in the Kitchen program is centred around food, Lyn said it’s about much more than just learning to cook. She explained that the group will properly set the table and enjoy the finished meal together.
“They’re learning the basic skills for life,” Lyn said. “It’s amazing the number of kids who cannot eat properly at a table. They’re learning social skills, they’re learning the basics of cooking. They’re learning how to use a knife and fork. They’re learning about God, [and about how] to make friends with kids that they don’t know.”
Lyn said the devotional part of Kids in the Kitchen, which included Bible verses, was something that they offered the children, but there was no obligation to believe in God. She said some children came from atheist families.
“I even had one kid who said to me, ‘Because I don’t believe in God, does that mean that I can’t come anymore?’” Lyn said. “And I said ‘No, not at all’. Because we take everybody.”
Lyn said among the volunteers in the program are several from the Baptist church and one from the Catholic church. The team also partners with a local Catholic school to provide work experience and Duke of Edinburgh Award hours.
The team were forced to limit numbers for a very practical reason. They found when they had too many children, the amount of electricity required to run all the kitchen equipment kept tripping the power fuse. With children on the autism spectrum welcomed each term, Lyn said there was another benefit to the smaller numbers.
“What we found was that having only four kids in each group with a leader, it’s been fantastic for kids on the autism spectrum because it’s quiet,” Lyn said. “They get very focused, and they feel safe. It’s not a rowdy program, and it just works for them.”
Jurni Young, who participated in Tarrawanna’s very first term of Kids in the Kitchen when she was just 10 years old, was recently honoured with a Rising Star Award by the City of Wollongong. This recognition was due to her involvement with the program. She now volunteers at Kids in the Kitchen every week.
And hers is not the only success story.
Lyn said she recently heard from a parent to two boys on the autism spectrum who were enrolled in Kids in the Kitchen over the past two years. The boys had previously been finding school difficult, and their behaviour reflected this. Police and teachers had attempted to help the boys, but they were violent towards others and presented a threat to other students in the school. Throughout this time, the mother had also been undergoing treatment for cancer.
After their involvement in Kids in the Kitchen, the eldest son loved cooking so much that he assisted in catering for a wedding, and the second son was shopping for ingredients and cooking meals for the family.
“He now has become [school] captain,” Lyn said. “He represents the school at swimming carnivals and comes first. He’s doing all sorts of things.”
Lyn said the boy’s mother was convinced Kids in the Kitchen was the source of the transformation, as it had taught her sons how to focus.
“She puts it down to the fact that Kids in the Kitchen had a big impact on them,” Lyn said. “And she’s finished off by saying, ‘Thank you very much to all your team for your prayer support and your support of our family’.
“And they don’t believe in God.”
Lyn shared that a mother of another child on the autism spectrum, who often refused certain foods, was recently brought to tears when she discovered that her son not only prepared the chicken and vegetables for a soup but also went back for seconds.
“It’s just amazing what the program does for the families,” Lyn said.
“There’s just story after story like that where it’s a family thing. We’re involved with families.”
Lyn said that a single father of a child in the program recently shared with her how Kids in the Kitchen was impacting their relationship.
“He [gave] me [a] big hug, and he cried and said, ‘I’ve been trying to find something that I can do with my 11-year-old daughter. You know what we’re doing? We’re cooking together! It’s fantastic. Thank you so much.’
“There’s just story after story like that where it’s a family thing. We’re involved with families.”
To find out more about Kids in the Kitchen, see here.
