For most of us, cooking and baking are an integral part of the holiday season. At Life’s Kitchen in Boise, cooking and baking take on added importance: they offer hope for the future.

        Life’s Kitchen is a nonprofit organization that helps at-risk young adults (ages 16 to 20) develop self-sufficiency, enhance their feelings of belonging and self-worth, and realize their full potential as they complete a program of comprehensive food service and life-skills training. Through the program, students have access to the educational resources, tools, and opportunities they need to learn a skill and find gainful employment. Life’s Kitchen supports itself with its Lunch Café (Wednesdays through Fridays from 11:30am to 1:00pm), catering business, and contract food business, as well as private donations and community grants.  

WANT TO HELP? HERE’S A WISH LIST:

•  Customers for Life’s Kitchen Lunch Café (see days and times above)

•  Cooking supplies such as whisks, spatulas, pastry bags, springform pans, and muffin pans

•  Gift cards for Winco, Target, Fred Meyer, and other local stores

•  Gift certificates for Career Uniform and/or Payless Shoe Stores

•  Black Dickies pants in various sizes

•  New white t-shirts in various sizes

Life’s Kitchen: 1025 S. Capitol Blvd. (just south of the Boise River), 331-0199, lifeskitchen.org.

Donna Bankhead is a contributing writer from Boise.