Purdue students create community cookbook for senior citizens

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue students created a cookbook for members of the Senior Center at Jenks Rest so these individuals will have access to convenient recipes specific for the food items distributed as part of the center's grocery program.

The center is providing 100 cookbooks to senior citizens, and persons with disabilities, who are enrolled in the Senior Grocery Program. The program is a collaboration between The Center at Jenks Rest and Food Finders Food Bank, and offers grocery assistance to senior citizens and those with disabilities struggling with food insecurity.

The Center at Jenks Rest is the daily activity program of the Tippecanoe County Council on Aging, Inc., which has provided services to seniors and persons with disabilities in the greater Lafayette area since 1973.

The book "Well Fed Cookbook: Recipes for Affordable Cooking," is designed as a method of "bridging the gap between food pantries and the kitchen table," and features 20 easy-to-use recipes that were submitted by seniors from the center. The recipes incorporate staple ingredients such as dried beans and tuna, and are divided into breakfast, lunch, main dishes, sides and desserts categories. The book also features money saving tips and photographs of every dish, as well as pictures of utensils and common measurements.  

Twenty-two students in Purdue's spring 2015 "Business Writing" class from the Department of English visited the center and spoke with senior citizens to create the cookbook. Bill Glick, the center’s executive director, and the staff at the center, worked with students on the design and presentation of the project.

"This was a great project for both students and the center, because the students got the chance to practice their writing and design skills for an audience beyond the classroom and different from themselves while creating a professional document that will be useful for the local community," said Kathryn Yankura, class instructor.

This project was funded by the Purdue Student Community Service/Service Learning Grant to help with the costs of printing the books.

The Purdue students' cookbook also will be featured as a workshop topic at the National Conference of Senior Center Staff in September in Columbus, Indiana. 

Writer: Jennifer Jackson, jacks152@purdue.edu

News Service contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu 

Sources: Kathryn Yankura, kyankura@purdue.edu

Bill Glick, Billg@jenkrest.com 

Related website:

College of Liberal Arts

Note to Journalists: Journalists are welcome to attend the cookbook distribution, which will be held at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday (Sept. 8) at the Senior Center at Jenks Rest, 1915 Scott St, Lafayette, located in Columbian Park.