By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
This past Wednesday, the First Baptist Church held their second meeting of Kids in the Kitchen. This program is provided on early release days from school, allowing kids of all ages to whip up some delicious treats with their extra time. This past week, the kids made brownies and blondies, following a recipe found by Pastor Christine, who is relatively new to the church.
“Last week, we made pumpkin muffins and did some experimental cakes since we had the batter left over,” Christine said. “They were delicious and it was great because the congregation was able to try them and really see what we’re doing here.” While none of the children involved in the program are a part of the congregation, the program came to be after a discussion about what the members thought they needed in town.
This program filled a number of different roles, Pastor Stephanie Salinas explained. “There are a lot of skills that we used to learn in classes such as home-ec that we don’t anymore, such as cooking or sewing,” she said. “This offers some basic skills in a fun environment. Also, Westwood schools offer a lot of programs but they are often filled by the same kids. We wanted to give kids who aren’t involved in those programs another opportunity to get involved.”
This is the second type of this program, the first was offered this past spring and the kids sewed blankets for Project Linus, a charity that provides homemade blankets to children in need. “The sewing was a little more difficult – we had about 23 kids and they all had sewing machines. But we managed to make five blankets to donate!” Salinas said.
Next week, the kids will be making Christmas cookies, and then they will break for the holidays. When they reconvene, Christine said she wants to focus on helping them make healthy snacks.
