Love & Lasagna

Nativity House Shelter is looking for casserole groups to help provide meals for shelter guests.

Making the world a better place starts in your kitchen with your family's favorite lasagna or tuna noodle casserole recipe.

This is a great group project for large friend groups, clubs, civic organizations, Girl Scout troops and faith organizations. This project can be done entirely offsite but does require a group leader.

Project Scope and Scale:

Nativity House Shelter will gratefully accept as many casseroles as you are willing to make. The shelter has a REALLY big trailer freezer. Frozen casseroles are stored in a "casserole bank" which gives shelter staff a lot of meal planning flexibility. A hearty meal can be prepped for nearly 200 people in under 2 hours which is especially helpful when we're short on volunteers or short on staff.

How it works

• The designated group leader will need to register to join our volunteer team- They can register online at http://bit.ly/VSregSW or email meganed@ccsww.org to request a paper registration with a pre-stamped return envelope.
• The group leader will go through the vetting process (background check, reference check and an orientation) and get a Washington State Food Worker Card.
• The rest of the team just cooks and logs their volunteer hours. Volunteer hours include shoping, planning, cooking and drop off time.
• This is NOT a suitable volunteer project for volunteers working toward court mandated community service because hours are difficult to verify for the courts when done offsite.

Guidelines

• The group leader is responsible for food safety and making sure that the team is following best practices.
• All casseroles must be dropped off in frozen format and labeled with what it is, the date made/frozen, cooking instructions and ingredients (allergen safety).
• Groups use disposable casserole tins for easy clean up and to protect volunteers from losing their favorite casserole dish.

Origin Story- The idea was brought to us by two sisters who started a casserole ministry at their parish during Covid-19. The idea started with 7 casseroles and took off like wildfire. The casserole ministry became a game changer for Nativity House Shelter. It made it possible to feed a whole bunch of people with limited people-power and limited resources during a time of great uncertainty.

Want to learn more about this opportunity? Call Megan at 253-365-4111 or email meganed@ccsww.org.

Private Group Details:

• Group Size Range: 1 - 50+
• Casserole prep is done 100% offsite.
• Donation of food and supplies is required to do the project
• Casserole Teams supply all of their own ingredients and materials. Groups are welcome to utilize ingredients available in the shelter kitchen but we can't guarantee what ingredients will be available. Almost all of our kitchen inventory is donated product.