Thanks to Community Food Education (CFE) volunteer extraordinaire Charlotte Trelease for her recent contributions to our work!

Since January 2018, Charlotte has been our unsung laundry hero. She punctually shuttles multiple bags of our towels and aprons back and forth from her house, which go in dirty and come out clean every week. While doing laundry may not be glamorous – an often thankless and unseen job – it’s critical to the success of Solid Ground’s CFE cooking classes.

Community Food Education volunteer extraordinaire, Charlotte Trelease (Kristin Zwiers Photography)

Not only is Charlotte is our Leading Laundry Lady, she is also one of Cooking Matters’ newest facilitators, joining her first class in March and another in May.

Starting out as a Class Assistant, Charlotte constantly innovates and streamlines our processes. Whether it’s figuring out the quickest way to dry cutting boards en masse or collaborating with the rest of our volunteer team to troubleshoot an unexpected situation, she is a vital part of the success of our classes.

Most recently, Charlotte became a Cooking Facilitator, leading participants in knife safety, practicing healthy cooking techniques, and using recipe frameworks. In her first class, she went above and beyond expectations!

Charlotte is always conscious of people’s dietary restrictions and comes up with creative solutions that fit everyone’s preferences and needs. She teaches participants how to make salad dressings, poached eggs, vegan/nut-free pesto, and three different kinds of banana ice cream.

Charlotte’s efforts with Community Food Education are greatly appreciated and noticed among staff and participants alike. As her volunteer supervisor, Shana McCann affirms, “Charlotte is really good at facilitating dialogue to make the content relevant to people’s lives.”

Thanks to Charlotte’s continued enthusiasm and resourcefulness, participants are able to apply healthy cooking practices to their lives in ways that work for them. We appreciate having such a wonderful participant-focused volunteer who is also able to do work behind the scenes to ensure the continual success of our program!

Questions about volunteering with Community Food Education? Contact Shana McCann at 206.694.6869 or shanam@solid-ground.org.

This is article appeared in Solid Ground’s Fall 2018 print newsletter. To sign up for email updates, Groundviews Blog email notifications, or to receive the print newsletter by snail mail, visit our Get News & Updates page.