Our Emeril Lagasse Full Circle Kitchen continues to be busy with classes for kids, even with school out of session.  Each week we have had various organizations with students and kids join us for a cooking class.

We had such a good time hosting the Youth Village Cooking class earlier this month while they learned how to make pizza's from scratch.  It is so great to see the kids take part and want to learn more about cooking on their own!

We also have enjoyed hosting students from AMI Pensacola, while they made an easy "one-pot" ranch chicken meal, and love that they make the effort to drive the distance to join our cooking class.

The Boys and Girl's Club has also been using our kitchen as part of their summer program.  Recently that created "Cheerio Clusters" and made eggs for a breakfast meal.

We are so thankful for this kitchen that allows us to host kids of all ages to teach them how to cook an array of meals all on their own!

Donations are still needed for the remaining two summer services! Each of the Food For Thought Pantries are open on Tuesdays from 8:30 - 4:30 to accept donations.

Please take this suggested shopping list the next time you go to the store and grab a few of these items to help feed kids for the rest of the summer. OR take a look in your own cupboards to see if there are any food items you are not using that could be donated for our summer meals. 

If you would like to make a monetary donation, you can do so here: 

https://fftfl.org/pages/summer-program-support

Volunteer spots are also available to help pack and distribute the remaining too food services.  The last two food distribution dates are July 1st and July 29th. 

Email us today: volunteer@fftfl.org if you are interested in helping in this way!

Just two weeks away is the 2019 Smoke on the Coast BBQ & Fireworks Festival at the Destin Commons! Join us July 3rd from 5pm to 9pm for BBQ, music and fireworks.

Food For Thought is excited to be partnering with Paula Deen's Family Kitchen this year, and grateful to be one of the benefiting charities from this event.  In addition to the Smoke on the Coast festival, we are also looking forward to partnering with Paula Deen's Family Kitchen, as they will be able to donate un-used or leftover food to be used in the Full Circle Kitchen cooking classes.  This un-used food will be air-sealed so that it can be kept as fresh as possible for the cooking classes. 

The BBQ & Fireworks festival is sure to be a great family friendly event, so make sure to stop by to taste not just the BBQ our team will be serving, but also the many other teams and charities participating.  Below is a list of the teams, and in total, more than $85K will be raised to donate to the benefiting charities in our area.

Participating Barbecue teams and their partnering charities include:

- Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida is partnering with Cold Creek BBQ
- Dog-Harmony is partnering with Cafe Rico
- Destin Boys & Girls Club of the Emerald Coast is partnering with BIG Red Truck
- Habitat for Humanity ReStore Fort Walton Beach & Crestview is partnering with Hub City Smokehouse and Grill
- Children in Crisis, Inc. Florida is partnering with B&C Fire Safety
- Gulf Coast Council BSA is partnering with Smok'n Scouts BBQ Crew
- Youth Village, Inc. is partnering with Waste Management - Fort Walton Beach, FL
- Air Force Enlisted Village is partnering with The Gulf Restaurant on Okaloosa Island
- Rotary Club of Destin is partnering with Rotary Club of Destin
- Jobs4U, Inc. is partnering with Lillie's Q
- Food For Thought Outreach Inc is partnering with Paula Deen's Family Kitchen
- Emerald Coast Science Center is partnering with Bow tie bbq and catering
- Shelter House is partnering with The One and Culinary Pirates
- Opportunity Place, Inc. is partnering with B's Smoking Barbeque
- Niceville Rotary is partnering with Smokin Hot Wheels
- Junior League of the Emerald Coast is partnering with Buh's BBQ - Dry Memphis Style Rub and BBQ Sauces
- The Taylor Haugen Foundation is partnering with BrightView

In addition to plenty of BBQ to taste, there will be live music performed by Heritage and The Forrest Williams Band, with a fireworks show at the end of the night. 

We are looking forward to this event, and hope that you will join us!

More information can be found HERE.

What a great way to kick off our Summer Program food drive! Thank you to Pizza by the Sea, Winn-Dixie and Grand Boulevard for hosting our vans to collect food items for our summer program. There was a great turn out at each location over the last two weeks, and we are grateful to you and your customers for helping to fill our pantry for the summer.

Look below at the number of food items that were collected through each location; these donations have helped to provide for our first summer service earlier this week: 

• Pizza-by-the-Sea: 1,227 food items
• Winn-Dixie Destin: 801 food items and $1K in monetary donations
• Grand Boulevard Farmer's Market: 355 food items and $135 in monetary donations

We still are collecting donations for the 2nd and 3rd summer meal service.  You can drop off donations at any of the pantry locations on Tuesdays, from 8:30-4:30, or donate online HERE. 

A portion of the donations from Cram the Van:

Pizza-by-the-Sea: 

Wow! Can you believe that the school year is almost over and summer is upon us?! We are so thankful for you and all of the Food For Thought Volunteers that have helped us achieve so much this past school year for the kids in our community.  Without your help over the 2018/19 school year, we would not have been able to accomplish all of this!

We have continued gratitude for the help that each one of you have provided this school year! The hours (over 10k!) that you have spent at Food For Thought, makes you, our volunteers the backbone of our operation.  The kids in our community would not be receiving the support through each of our programs without your help.  

Looking ahead, we are gearing up for summer program service, as well as planning for the 2019/20 school year and are appreciative for all of those that will continue to help and serve Food For Thought!

We are excited to see where this next year will take us and how we can better serve our community!