MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
After working as an emergency medicine physician in Kansas City for more than a decade, Kathryn Miner decided it was time for a change.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
So in 2022, she started exploring other ways to help people in her community and pursued lifestyle and culinary medicine.
KATHRYN MINER: Culinary medicine is centered on nutrition, food safety aspects, teaching kitchens, being a physician and kind of slash pseudochef.
KELLY: Once she decided to pivot, Miner ran into a snag. She was laid off from her job.
CHANG: So she started volunteering at a public library that was running teaching kitchens for medical student groups and patient groups.
KELLY: If you're not familiar, teaching kitchens are hands-on spaces. People learn about nutrition and healthy cooking techniques.
CHANG: She loved it so much that she started doing similar work with a local church's program for the homeless, primarily serving women and children. She told us about her work as part of our series Here To Help.
MINER: I bought myself an induction burner with some pots and pans and focused on it being very simple. Like, these are people who are coming from homelessness.
KELLY: As soon as she got in the door of the program run by Hillcrest Ministries in Lee's Summit, Missouri, she was eager to see what she had to work with.
MINER: So I took a tour of their pantry, and I'm like, well, the - I see a big problem here. Like, you have nothing to flavor this stuff.
CHANG: There wasn't exactly a full spice rack available.
MINER: There was gravy packets and things of salt, and that was it.
KELLY: Miner, being an optimist, looked past what was lacking and leaned into what was possible for the program's clients.
MINER: My whole thing was like, I'm going to make this super simple 'cause I know that if they're starting out and finding an apartment, they're starting from scratch, and they're not going to have an InstaPot.
CHANG: So she did some investigating.
MINER: I got there, like, an hour ahead of time, and I saw a variety of frozen vegetables, some spaghetti. Oh, my gosh, there's fresh oranges. And I found some garlic powder, and I already bought my soy sauce.
KELLY: OK, quite the bounty - I'm kind of liking where this is going.
MINER: I sauteed the vegetables, cooked the spaghetti on the stove, and then I was making that peanut sauce, like a - kind of a Rachael Ray-inspired peanut sauce (ph). And they all looked at me like I was crazy.
CHANG: And the verdict?
MINER: They all had seconds. You know, even the lady that called me crazy got up and had a second helping. And so I felt like that was a home run and really helped me feel like, all right, I'll do this again.
KELLY: So she did. Many lessons, many volunteer hours later, Miner has the kitchen running at full speed.
CHANG: More recently, she received a request to teach people how to make Crock-Pot meals.
MINER: So we've arrived at Hillcrest, going through the pantry in preparation for tonight's meal. Have an excellent source of bean choice, canned beans - lots of elbow macaroni.
CHANG: That night's menu item was - drumroll - minestrone.
MINER: So I'm going to add the entire box of gluten-free elbow macaroni. I like to hold the two sides of the kale down, fold them up a little bit and then, with a claw of my left hand, holding the leaf down and keeping my fingers safe, slice these into sort of some ribbons.
KELLY: Miner says she sees her work with Hillcrest as a way to take at least one burden off the plate of someone looking for stable housing.
CHANG: For more stories like this and to nominate someone else doing good in your community, you can visit npr.org/heretohelp.
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