14/ RealityKitchen.org, our folksy River Road neighborhood bakery and café, was founded to provide job skills training for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Were they interested in playing a key, intermediary role in a 'farm-to-elders' project?
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Photo of Catherine Pickup and Jim Evangelista, who first met in a classroom working for Lane Educational Service District in a Transition Classroom where they were supporting young adults, 18 to 21 years old, with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It was there they recognized that their students were not being adequately prepared for adulthood and all that meant. Together, they developed a concept and plan to offer these individuals the opportunity to be better prepared to live lives of more independence, as well as be better prepared to enter the job market. Understanding that all people benefit from knowing how to prepare healthy meals for themselves, as well as others, is a most fundamental skill for anyone living independently. This Labor of Love became Reality Kitchen Nonprofit, where all individuals, with and without disabilities, could work together in a truly integrated workplace.
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Reality Kitchen: a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Logo.