Michael Gaither

I had the way-cool opportunity to play for the Teen Kitchen Project’s annual fundraising dinner yesterday. A great event for a great cause. Funny that my wife and I have only known about this organization for a couple of years, but as my pal Ron Sandige says, “Everything B.C. (Before Covid) is a little hazy.”

Back in 2019 (er…I think) we were invited to their annual dinner, held on a small farm in Soquel. Besides being surrounded by greet peeps and amazing food and drink, we quickly learned how this organization serves TWO communities: Teens learn about healthy food and gain cooking skills, and gourmet meals are then packaged and delivered to homebound families. (Basically, you sorta double your dollars for anything you donate…hint.)

Needless to say, The Teen Kitchen Project was VERY busy last year in the era of shelter-in-place, which kept more people at home, especially those who were more at risk during the early phase of COVID. Over at KPIG, I interviewed Angela Farley, their Executive Director, for KPIG Radio’s “Central Coast Update”. Some of the teens and chiefs even made a cameo appearance in KPIG Radio’s “Ripple” video project.

Fast forward to 2021 and this year’s annual dinner. We all gathered in person this year – like in the B.C times – above Davenport. Produce from Sea to Sky Farms was cooked by teens and volunteers to produce a gorgeous dinner held literally in the middle of the field at Rancho del Oso Nature Center. We ate. We laughed. We all helped out a pretty special organization. And I got to play for the evening with a pretty drop-dead amazing backdrop behind me. You can learn more – or make a contribution – at teenkitchenproject.org.