“You can tell I don’t sit down much,” Debra
Richardson , Program Director at Leaf, Loaf & Ladle noted
with a sheepish grin as she gestured toward her makeshift
desk in a corner of the kitchen space. However, Richardson didn’t seem to mind the hustle and
bustle; her work is a realization of her vision to revitalize lives through
food. And, she added, “My work is what
I’m passionate about.”
Leaf, Loaf & Ladle is a catering service and social
enterprise of RCIL, based out of the kitchens in the Dorothy
Smith Center
for Advocacy in Utica .
Along with Richardson, who provides the oversight and organization for the
business, Chef Mike Capelli heads up the culinary aspect, filling out the two
person show. As well as regularly catering
meetings, weddings and other events by request, Leaf, Loaf & Ladle also
prepares and serves meals to the participants of RCIL’s Adult Day Service
Program, focusing on a fresh, healthy whole foods menu. “If we’re having
potatoes,” Richardson
avowed, “we’re not going to open up a can.”
The origins of Leaf, Loaf & Ladle were a culmination of Richardson ’s past work in
food services and her commitment to reach out to her community. In 2005, Richardson said, the
pieces of her life had started to come together; she had a steady job with Hotel
Utica, “Everything was going right,” she recalled, “but I just wasn’t happy. I
needed to get in touch with food.” That same year, Richardson
heard about the Farestart program in Seattle ,
Washington , a catering service
that served as a job training program with a focus on making and serving
healthy, high quality meals. She began working with the
Kitchens with Missions folks in Seattle and in
2008, everything fell into place as Richardson
was able to partner with RCIL to apply the same goals in Utica . Especially with the growing demand to
eat locally and prevent diet-related diseases such as
diabetes, heart disease and obesity, she said, “there’s such a need.”
The business is constantly adapting to fit the available
niche and to most efficiently utilize its resources for good. For instance,
previously Leaf, Loaf & Ladle has offered a work-preparedness and job
training program for those joining the work force or reentering society.
However, after 2008 market crash and the resulting unemployment, federal funding
for job training was cut as there were so few jobs to fill nationwide.
Currently, the enterprise continues to provide similar training, but for those
who volunteer their time, often to fulfill court-ordered community service
hours or rehabilitation requirements.
However, even as the mission of Leaf, Loaf & Ladle
expands or alters with the uncertainties of the future, the underlying focus
will stay the same. A constant theme, Richardson
has noticed, is that “People can recover by giving back.” And the most
rewarding aspect for both her and the volunteers is, and will continue to be
the learning process and the resulting sense of accomplishment: “Knowing that
the food they’re cooking is being served to 50 people right upstairs. And,” she
added, “I get to be able to see people reconnect their
lives through the vehicle of food.”
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