Dinners at the Herritage raise money for Mary's Kitchen
People enjoy dinner in support of Mary’s Kitchen at the Herritage in January. Submitted Photo
A local chef put his talents to work last month raising money to help feed the those in need.
Apple crostatas made by Seraphim Smith to raise money for Mary’s Kitchen. Submitted Photo
Seraphim Smith, who is also an artist and marketing specialist, started raising money in December for Mary’s Kitchen by baking apple crostatas for people in the area around the holidays. As more people heard about the effort and saw pictures of the desserts, demand snowballed and Smith said he ended up baking 104 apple crostatas, which raised $1,500 for Mary’s Kitchen.
Laurie Anderson, who owns The Herritage in downtown Kinston, asked Smith about doing fundraising dinners on Thursday nights in January. Smith agreed, leading to Smith creating a menu and cooking meals which were served in exchange for donations to Mary’s Kitchen in Kinston.
Smith said he contacted local farms and asked what they could donate to come up with the menus. Nooherooka Natural in Snow Hill donated nearly twenty pounds of pasture-raised, premium ground beef. Whiskey Pig Craft Butchery in Kinston donated Italian sausage. T.C. Smith Produce donated kale and mustard greens, and Tull Hill Farms donated sweet potatoes. Food Lion in Kinston also donated groceries, and the United Way helped with the purchase of ingredients as well.
Meatloaf, greens, mashed sweet potatoes, and apple bread pudding ready to be served. Submitted Photo
Chicken and dumplings, baked ziti, chili, and meatloaf were all very popular with folks in Kinston, who came out to show their support for the mission of Mary’s Kitchen and enjoy amazing food. Altogether, the dinners and the original crostata fundraiser brought in $4,000 for Mary’s Kitchen.
At the final dinner on January 31, Mary’s Kitchen executive director Jim Godfrey thanked those who had attended for their support, and expressed his gratitude to Smith for all the hard work and love that went into organizing and cooking the dinners each week.
Smith said that he was happy to be able to organize a way for people in the community to support the mission of Mary’s Kitchen.
“If everybody can give a little bit, it makes it less stressful, and then when they see that it’s going towards something beneficial and good,” Smith said. “It makes [people] happy to be able to do something, even if it’s just a small thing, they can see how it builds into this bigger, meaningful picture, I really loved doing that.”