Thanks to funding from The Sampson Foundation and Eden Hall Foundation, the YMCA in Plum opened a teaching kitchen as part of their massive renovation campaign. The 1,300-square-foot space in the rechristened Sampson Family YMCA is the only teaching kitchen in Pennsylvania that operates as part of the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative. It also was the first community-based organization to join the national initiative cooked up by The Culinary Institute of America and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to promote healthy living. The kitchen offers nutrition education and offers private and group cooking classes to kids and adults.
The kitchen is not just a local service, but has become a national model. Administrators say the YMCA has been able to share its model for success with the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, helping more people have access to teaching kitchens across the country.