About Teen Kitchen Project

Our Mission:
Building healthier, more connected communities by engaging teens and providing nourishing food to individuals living with serious illnesses

The Teen Kitchen Project is a nonprofit organization that brings young people into the kitchen to learn to cook delicious and nourishing food. The meals they prepare are delivered  to individuals and families who are in crisis due to a life-threatening illness like cancer. We serve families in Santa Cruz County, California.

The teens gain skills in cooking healthy food, learn about the impact of their food choices, and are offered an opportunity to build connections through community service.

The Teen Kitchen Project operates on Sundays all day, and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoons, out of a commercial kitchen in Soquel, California. We are supported through donations from the community, grants, and contracts with local and state agencies.

Our Values

Background and Overview of Teen Kitchen Project

Teen Kitchen Project (TKP) was founded by current Executive Director Angela Farley after her own family experienced a life-threatening illness. In 2011 her son was diagnosed with cancer. During his treatment, friends and family brought home cooked meals to help keep Angela’s family nourished. After her son’s treatment was successfully completed, she made a commitment to help others as she was helped during her time of need.

Founded in 2012, TKP provides home-delivered, medically tailored meals (MTMs) to individuals in Santa Cruz County. Meals are designed by an in-house Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Executive Chef, prepared by teen chefs who benefit from the opportunity to give back to their community while learning valuable workforce and life skills and delivered by volunteer adults who perform weekly wellness checks for meal recipients.

Organizational Mission and Values

Mission: To build healthy communities through food.

Values:

• Work with Intention: Our actions and choices lead to the greatest positive impact.
• Food is Love: The preparation and sharing of food allows our community to experience gratitude, compassion, connection, and serving those in greatest need.
• Young People are the Future: Young people are intelligent, responsible, capable, creative, caring, and must be central participants in shaping our collective future.
• Integrity Matters: We are committed to trust, respect, and honesty. 

Current Programs and Services 

TKP’s services include:

• Meal Delivery Service: Clients are referred by healthcare providers. Professional chefs train employee/volunteer teen chefs in preparing, cooking and packaging meals for delivery. A Registered Dietitian evaluates meals to ensure they are in accordance with DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) guidelines and are diabetes-friendly (lower carb, no refined sugars). Meals are delivered for 12 weeks with the possibility of recertification for an additional 12 weeks with a doctor referral.
• Medically Tailored Grocery Program:  Meal Delivery Service recipients who are experiencing food insecurity are eligible for free medically tailored groceries to supplement their weekly meal delivery. This program provides fresh and shelf stable grocery items and weekly recipe newsletters that provide tips and tricks for cooking healthy food at home. 
• Nutritional Counseling: All clients receive individualized nutritional counseling sessions from a bilingual Registered Dietitian to discuss clients’ health goals in relation to their current diagnosis.
• Teen Chef Program: Working under the guidance of experienced chefs, approximately 85 teen chefs per year (ages 14-18) learn how to prepare, cook and package meals for delivery. Teens gain the opportunity to give back to their community while learning about nutrition, teamwork, leadership and workforce skills.

Financial Position

• TKP’s annual budget for 2023 is $1.2M.
• In 2022, 84% of the organization’s total budget was allocated to programs, 9% to administration and 5% to fundraising. Most personnel expenses are allocated to programs, with the remaining amount allocated to administration and fundraising.
• TKP has diversified its revenue streams over the last six years. Comparing 2022 to 2017, TKP has increased the percentage of revenue from earned income, events and in-kind donations. This meant the organization decreased its reliance on foundation grants, individual donors and corporate gifts.
• Over the last three years, TKP has continued to serve more clients and the organization’s budget has increased accordingly. The personnel budget increased in 2021 because the organization had fewer volunteers in the kitchen due to the pandemic.
• Roughly 14% of TKP’s personnel budget supports teen salaries.
• TKP has provided medically tailored meals to vulnerable members of the Santa Cruz County community for 10 years. In the calendar year 2022, the agency delivered 80,297 meals to a total of 623 unduplicated clients in Santa Cruz County impacted by life-threatening illnesses.
• Client Demographics
  • In 2022, 84% of clients served were low-income (59% on Medi-Cal and 25% less than 200% below the poverty level)
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  • Clients By Location:
  • South County 30%San Lorenzo Valley 10%

    Mid County 31%

    Greater Santa Cruz and North County 29%

    Clients By Primary Diagnosis: 

    Cancer 19%

    Diabetes 26%

    Congestive Heart Failure 8%

    Severe Neurological Disease 13%

    Recent Major Surgery 12%

    Other Eligible Diagnosis 22%