Kids in the Kitchen Keep Cooking During COVID-19

Julia Rosenthal

The Junior Leagues’ Kids in the Kitchen (KITK) annual kids’ health and nutrition fair is a beloved staple of the Junior League of Washington (JLW) calendar, and has been well attended by JLW members with their children, community partners, and DC-area families year after year. The KITK Committee typically partners with the YMCA to produce this popular and celebrated spring event that aims to educate children ages three to 13 about the benefits of nutrition and fitness.

On the big event day, which is typically held at the Anthony Bowen Branch YMCA, attendees would usually enjoy age-appropriate creative and physical activities, as well as cooking demonstrations, and receive gift bags filled with goodies from sponsors and expertly put together by committee members. Some of the past activities included encouraging children to drink more water by dressing it up with fruit, and mixing up personalized healthy trail mix. Past donations for the event included the Colgate toothpaste company van providing free dental check-ups for participating children, food from &pizza, and snacks and produce from Giant supermarket. KITK Committee Chair Theresa Abellon Bauman notes that committee members look forward to seeing the familiar faces of regular attendees at the spring events, such as one mother of three children who had thanked her at the last event and said she makes a point to attend every year.

In addition to the annual spring event, the committee’s regular mini events provide JLW members with opportunities to fulfill that same mission of youth-oriented wellness education on a smaller scale, while collaborating with JLW community partners. All members of the KITK Committee are expected to participate in two mini events each year. Shelley Keller, Secretary of the KITK Committee, explains what inspires her commitment to KITK as follows, “Healthy eating and nutrition are very important to me and I believe it is a learned behavior. Showing children how to choose healthy food choices is as important as foundational literacy and math skills. As a Pre-K teacher I see firsthand the significant impact a healthy diet can have on a child’s growth and development both mentally and physically.”

PIVOT TO VIRTUAL In the spring of 2020, the growing COVID-19 crisis forced the committee, like most people and entities around the world, to halt all in-person events and completely rethink how they operate. The fully planned KITK 2020 spring event was cancelled. When the 2020-2021 League year started, KITK Committee members were ready to face a new world with ideas learned and tested from months of virtual professional and personal interaction experience.

The challenges of the virtual format are many, but committee members, like the rest of us, are learning to adapt. According to KITK Committee member, Rashee Raj, “I have a kindergartener at home doing virtual ‘school.’ I feel like that helps me understand the limitations of virtual events for young people.” Keller explains that the KITK Committee had “several large and small group discussions about how we can transition in-person events to a virtual setting. It’s been really rewarding to see how other members are sharing their ideas as well as expertise in technology that they graciously offer to support.” Since holding its first virtual meeting in October 2020, the KITK

KITK Committee Members create stimulating activities to engage participants.

Committee has worked to reinvent committee operations and translate its mission to the virtual format, and by and large were able to succeed.

Due to all of the events this year being exclusively virtual, the committee put more emphasis on its mini events and collaboration with other committees. Keller notes, “It’s been incredible to see how quickly families have adapted to this new platform. Most of the children are familiar with online learning so transitioning those learned skills on the computer to JLW events has been seamless. Families are comfortable using Zoom and navigate through our events like pros.”

On November 30, 2020, KITK hosted a Development & Training Zoom session focused on local food insecurity challenges in a global pandemic. Bauman spoke about the background of KITK and how it has adapted to the pandemic before introducing guest speakers — Mollie Van Lieu, who is the Senior Director at Nutrition Policy at United Fresh Produce Association, and Jillian Griffith, who is a Registered Dietitian on the In-Store Nutrition team at Giant Foods. They explained the government programs that are established and implemented to help those in need, as well as other ways local grocers are helping during the pandemic.

On December 15, 2020, KITK hosted its second virtual mini event in conjunction with the Langley Residential Services Committee, where committee members played Holiday bingo with the residents. Anston Kovalcik, KITK Committee member explains, “They (virtual events) are difficult to plan and host, but they are fun. There needs to be a lot of thought and time put into making virtual happen successfully. We did a Christmas Bingo with Langley and had to buy Hersey’s kisses, bingo cards, goodie bags, etc. and then distribute these to Langley. The Bingo game was fun and everyone dressed up in Christmas attire.”

KITK typically collaborates with community partners and this year that effort has been expanded. The first such collaboration of the year happened on October 22, 2020, during a virtual Community Family Life Services (CLFS) event for which KITK provided a kids’ breakout room in Zoom, staffed with volunteers to entertain participants’ children. KITK collaborated with CLFS again for a similar event on March 11, 2021. On March 27, 2021, KITK participated in a Zoom event with the Washington School for Girls Committee and provided health and nutrition related activities for the girls in attendance.

PLANNING AND EXECUTING THE SPRING EVENT At its November meeting last fall, the KITK Committee got to work planning this year’s virtual spring event by setting up the usual subcommittees who plan and execute the event, and brainstorming about ways to interpret the KITK experience into a virtual setting. KITK Committee members have used their creativity and donated some of their time by pre-taping a range of short videos that relate to health and nutrition. The videos are varied and include segments demonstrating food preparation techniques and different exercise routines such as yoga, stretching, Zumba, and breathing. The videos have been posted to the JLW YouTube channel and are accessible to anyone interested.

CONCLUSION All League members have their reasons for giving so much of themselves to their committees. For Raj, who has been with KITK for four years, what drives her remains as it’s always been, the mission. “KITK is always involved in AJLI’s greater mission of food security, and that’s a big part of why I have stayed during the pandemic. Making sure that everyone, especially younger ones with growing brains, have access to fresh food is near and dear to my heart.”

Bauman summed up her concerns about this unusual League year, “I want our committee members to feel like they are contributing something to the greater good, to promote the League and to volunteer in the community. I know it has been a rough year, our committee is very hands on, and for us to lose that aspect of being out in the community, it has definitely been difficult for us.”

The past year has been uniquely challenging for all of us, but every JLW member who continued to serve can be proud of her dedication and perseverance.

KITK Committee Members preparing for the annual fair.