Cost is a huge barrier for individuals in our city to access food-related programming. In an attempt to make our programming as inclusive as possible we try to offer as much of our program is free to attend or on a listing scale model. Converse and Cook is run entirely by volunteers. In fact, in the 2019 year our volunteers have contributed over 400 hours of their personal time. In addition, donations for various sponsors and organizations have allowed us to continue and grow our programming and ensure it is accessible to all.
Donating to Converse and Cook is a donation towards maintaining cultural sustainability within Edmonton. It is ensuring that people have access to culturally relevant and nutritious foods and accesses to social spaces where they can build social networks and learn more about their community. Although we are not a registered charity yet, which means we cannot issue tax donation receipts, we have other ways in which we have recognized our monetary partners. This includes everything from having logos on our print materials, like our cookbooks or resources, to having a representative speak at our events. Below you can see a list of our previous funders and the projects they’ve helped support. We’ve also had partners help us with volunteer hours or in other ways. We’ve also worked with partners to implement programming in their communities. If you’re interested in supporting Converse and Cook or partnering with us, please email us at ConverseandCook@gmail.com with the subject line “Partnership”. Thank you in advance and we look forward to cooking up delicious meals with you soon 🙂
A list of grants we've previously received:
- #RisingYouth Grant-Canada Service Corps, TakingITGlobal and the Government of Canada 2019/2021: Awarded to offset costs to piloting community cooking classes with facilitated discussion in the city of Edmonton.
- UofA Alumni Student Council Funding 2019: Awarded to offset costs to launch our University of Alberta cookbook.
- UofA Alumni Student Council Funding 2018: Awarded to offset costs to develop a campus community cookbook.
- UofA Alumni Student Council Funding 2017: Awarded to offset costs to pilot cooking classes/grocery buses on campus.
A list of our current partners
- University of Alberta English Lanuage School:We’re currently offering programming and cooking socials to help build food literacy and conversational English skills in students.
- NorQuest College: We work with their LINC and Experiential learning classes to provide wonderful opportunties for their adult learners.
- MyKickstand: We’re working with this Albertan based organizationt o provide programming for youth around food literacy and redefining relationships with food.
A list of our previous partners
The Office of Sustainability, through the Sustainable Food Working Group at the University of Alberta, helped to pilot the first-ever cooking classes on campus which eventually turned into Converse and Cook.
The Campus Food Bank, a non-profit affiliated with the University of Alberta, sponsored cooking classes and grocery buses in the 2018-2019 year. We worked with them to implement Converse and Cook cooking classes and grocery buses on the University of Alberta campus permanently and officially handed off the programming to them in 2019. To find out more about their programming you can visit their websites or social media (easily accessed by googling Campus Food Bank)