Earlier this month, the staff of Violet PR had the privilege of volunteering  at Toni’s Kitchen, a Montclair-based “more than soup” kitchen that works with over 60 community partners to provide healthy meals, and connect guests with financial, health and counseling services seven days a week.

In 2018, Toni’s served over 180,000 meals to the community, treating people who arrive for a hot meal as guests, and serving meals plated restaurant-style. In 2020, that number jumped to over 1 million meals served.

Not only does Toni’s Kitchen provide restaurant-style meals to anyone in-need with no required minimum income, but it also frequently carries an inventory of vitamins, supplements, essential oils, incense, clothing, books, sanitary products and other items not usually associated with traditional soup kitchens.

The employees at Violet PR helped the all-star team at Toni’s Kitchen set up and prepare meals for the day, and briefly assisted guests with bagging their items. We sliced apples for a crumble and enjoyed the savory smells of the food being prepared for dinner, coming from the kitchen.

Volunteering at Toni’s Kitchen kicked off Violet PR’s company retreat and team-building day, which included whole team collaboration on future and current goals for the company, identifying strengths and areas that have opportunities for growth, and a group debrief on an intercultural development inventory assessment that is used to build intercultural competence.

Check out some photos of the VPR team in-action at Toni’s Kitchen and the company retreat:

We are grateful to have had the opportunity to assist Toni’s Kitchen’s hard-working team, and for the overall bonding experience of our company retreat. To learn more about group volunteering at Toni’s Kitchen, visit https://toniskitchen.org/group-volunteering/.