Sonoma Family Meal finds Petaluma home

The spark that started Sonoma Family Meal came during the 2017 Tubbs firestorm. There was an immediate need to feed displaced fire victims, as well as first responders, and Heather Irwin was getting calls from local chefs and restaurateurs asking what they could do to help. Several additional disasters later, and her organization is still hard at work helping to relieve food shortages. The biggest advance in this effort has been the establishment of a dedicated kitchen and pantry, which was recently opened at the north end of Petaluma, in Anna’s Seafood’s old location.

Irwin’s prior work as a Sonoma County food writer put her in the perfect position to know all the right people when it came to feeding those in need in the wake of the 2017 tragedy. Not a chef, per se, (although I remember her entry placing well at a Penngrove pie competition), Irwin’s contribution to SFM was one of the connections. (She writes for Sonoma Media Investments, which includes the Argus-Courier, Index-Tribune, North Bay Business Journal, Press Democrat and Sonoma Magazine.)

During the 2017 fires, business in Santa Rosa came to a screeching halt, which is not the norm for restaurants, who are experts at hustle and bustle. Restaurateurs wanted to help, and there just so happens to be a dire need in their field of expertise - food, and so Irwin put the two together.

“Chefs desperately wanted to feed people, and existing emergency outlets weren’t set up to handle restaurant-made food,” said Irwin. “I decided to work with our generous restaurant and farm communities to serve safe, nutritious, lovingly-made food to anyone in need. We also knew that many people were afraid to go to shelters or were staying in friends’ or family’s homes and simply needed something to eat.”

She organized volunteers, from chefs to preps, and coordinated with kitchens all over Sonoma County to help get meals made and delivered. Although Petaluma was making its own efforts to help the onslaught of people fleeing the fire zones, with most of restaurants and caterers pulling together to make things work, Irwin was doing the same thing in rest of the county.

Instead of letting up and going back to business as usual once the fires were quenched, Sonoma Family Meal continued to concentrate on feeding the hungry, while also recognizing the need for locally based disaster preparedness for the future. That future would come sooner than anyone would have thought, as “business as usual” around Sonoma County seems to be fairly regular natural disasters. The rains of early 2019 led to destructive flooding along the Russian River, and that fall followed with another devastating fire season, both leaving many in need of basic food resources.

Although the aftermath of the 2017 and 2019 fires and flood will continue to have lasting effects on our economy and those that rely on it for work, SFM’s was in the ideal position to pivot when the next disaster struck. Two cornerstones of disaster preparedness are having the infrastructure and experience to effectively assist, no matter what type of disaster is thrown our way, and SFM has set themselves up to be that go-to source in that arena.

The pandemic presented a similar need for family meals, however the root of the emergency itself meant SFM had to shift its tactics. It was no longer a matter of finding community kitchens and volunteers to staff them. The safety measures set in place to slow the spread of the virus were at exact odds to the normal SFM model of volunteers crammed in community kitchens, lending a hand wherever it was needed.

SFM was forced to flip their model. During and immediately after the fires, many restaurants were closed, or worse -- destroyed so they had staff, but no restaurant. During the pandemic, the physical restaurants were still there but were at risk of closing due to a lack of business. SFM shifted from making the meals in-house to raising and directing funds to cash-strapped restaurants in exchange for them making the needed meals. It was a win-win because meals were provided and restaurants were able to keep their key staff employed as they waited out the pandemic.

Petaluma Kitchen

The pandemic added a lot of challenges to SFM’s goal of opening their own dedicated facility, but through a lot of perseverance and fundrasing, they finally secured their new space, here in Petaluma. The biggest challenge, accord to Irwin, was finding the perfect spot for the kitchen.

“We looked for two years throughout the county,” she said. “Our new home in Petaluma was this Goldilocks situation where we had an amazing landlord who believed in our idea, it was properly zoned, the size was just perfect, it was accessible from both Sonoma and Santa Rosa, and we had a lot of support from locals. We couldn’t be happier to be in Petaluma.”

Located at 1370A Redwood Way, Petaluma, what first caught my attention about SFM’s new facility was how well they have cleaned up the space. It is not easy taking over a former fish market, but they did an incredible job of it. But no matter how distracted I am by the lack of fish smell, what is most impressive is how well they have laid out and equipped the space, creating multiple ways in which to use it.

Between disasters

Although SFM’s initial and primary goal is to be prepared for disaster response, in between fires and pandemics, there is still a need for ongoing food assistance. The new Petaluma kitchen is large enough to handle SFM’s initial focus, which is disaster preparedness and emergency food distribution, but also lends itself to additional facets of the organization’s efforts, including everyday food preparation and distribution to those experiencing food insecurities, as well as offering educational programs and a space for growing food related businesses.

Unfortunately, “food insecurity” is not a term reserved for the unemployed, infirmed or elderly. There are many hardworking individuals and families in our community who face challenges when trying to stretch their incomes to meet the ever-increasing price of food. The disparity between working class incomes and the cost of living in the Bay Area is nothing new, but seems to be growing faster than ever, making organizations like SFM more important than ever.

And SFM smartly focuses their efforts where they are best equipped, which is the food collection and preparation arena, and leaves the coordination with those in need to other organizations that have been doing that for years. SFM works closely with organizations such as Redwood Empire Food Bank to connect with those in need, and since arriving here in Petaluma have been working with Elim Lutheran Church, a long-time provider of community services here in Petaluma. As they expand their operations, SFM will branch out in order to best coordinate with other local organizations so as to most efficiently get the resources to those who need them. As another facet of these efforts, SFM plans to offer family food boxes, similar to CSA boxes, which are the “community-supported agriculture” boxes offered directly from many of our local farms.

New management

What with all her other commitments, Irwin knew she would eventually have to step back as executive director if SFM was to grow and develop to its full potential. She found a new executive director in Whitney Reuling, who has added organization, expertise and enthusiasm to match the shiny new kitchen space.

A Forestville native and El Molino High alumni, Reuling has spent the last decade in New York City organizing food access and education programs for low-income families.

“My mom was in culinary school when I was in utero,” she joked. With an undergrad degree in sociology from Boston University, a master’s in food studies from NYU, and a culinary degree from Paris’ Le Cordon Bleu, Rueling would appear to have found the perfect home with SFM and leading their efforts connect the bounty of Sonoma County with those in need, as well as offer educational opportunities to help better serve families and the community.

Head chef

Alongside Rueling, SFM could not operate without Executive Chef Heather Ames, who up until now is probably best known locally for her and husband Matt Weinberger’s assistance in resurrecting Nick’s Cove back in 2007. Both had worked at Union Square’s iconic Farallon restaurant, whose owner and head chef were behind the restoration at Nick’s Cove. Chef Ames has a background in geology and moved to the West Coast in the mid-1990s. She graduated from the California Culinary Academy before working in the kitchen of restaurants such as Farallon, as well as running the large private event kitchen at Skywalker Ranch, where she really honed her skills at “big cooking” – cooking for large crowds. Sonoma Family Meal puts those skills to use while also giving Ames a sense of purpose.

Husband Matt was a chef at Willi’s Wine Bar, which was destroyed in the 2017 Tubbs fire, but fortuitously led Ames to meet Irwin and Sonoma Family Meal. Willi’s Wine Bar, which eventually reopened in a new Santa Rosa location, is the flagship restaurant of Mark and Terri Stark’s Stark Restaurant group, which also includes Bird & the Bottle, Grossman’s Noshery & Bar, Willi’s Seafood, Bravas Bar de Tapas, Monti’s and Stark’s Steakhouse. As soon as the fires hit, the Starks reached out to Irwin, and what would ultimately become Sonoma Family Meal, offering up any and all resources they had. That lead to Ames joining the SMF kitchen in 2018.

Zero waste

The keystone of SFM’s philosophy is to bring together and maximize all available resources, more of which are becoming available due to changing policies regarding food waste. A major effort is underway here in California, started with the passing of senate bill 1383, which sets new standards and requirements for everything from residential organic recycling to food industry waste. In fact, starting this past January (2022), “Tier One Donors,” such as large supermarkets and food distributors are required to redirect their surpluses to food organizations, such as SFM, instead of letting it go to waste. These organizations often have large quantities of produce and other fresh foods that can find a second life after grocery store shelves. In 2024, this list of donors is set to expand to include large restaurants, hotels, health facilities, large event venues, state agency and education cafeterias, which often have prepared foods they can donate.

Cooking classes

SFM has started planning cooking classes to be held in their space between other work. They intend to focus these classes on what locals find most important – seasonal ingredients and sustainable practices, while also improving our knowledge and skills around the kitchen. Although the full schedule has not yet been finalized for this year, a “Reducing Food Waste” class is planned for July with a “Building Boards” charcutier platter class in August. They also plan to hold basic classes to help families better use the resources available to them, without having to spend all day in the kitchen or all their income at the grocery store.

“We want to make the most of Sonoma County’s bounty by helping people learn basic kitchen skills, as well as added to those who already have some experience,” said Ames. Other planned classes include “Stocking your freezer for an emergency” and various local celebrity chef classes.

Training the future

As any food writer is acutely aware from most conversations we have with restaurant owners, there is a growing shortage of qualified restaurant workers, from servers to chefs to everything in between. Often restaurants simply do not have the time or resources to train inexperienced employees, but of course an applicant cannot get restaurant experience without finding that first restaurant job. This has bottlenecked the path for eager workers in the restaurant industry. Sonoma Family Meal plans to help bridge that gap by offering culinary job training, with a planned program start date of 2023.

The 12-week program will include eight weeks of in-house, hands-on training, followed by a four-week paid internship with one of SFM’s many partners. Along with learning front-of-the-house skills, they will work with professional chefs to learn the basics of food preparation, which SFM is offering on a daily basis anyway. Additionally, the program will go a step further by assisting students with job placement and career coaching, and depending on donations, hopes to offer some financial aid.

Commercial kitchen

Upstart food companies often rely on commercial kitchens until they can grow big to have their own kitchens. However, commercial kitchens are harder and harder to come by, especially as the cost of renovations and equipment skyrockets. Offering up their brand new, and well-stocked commercial kitchen is yet another way that SFM not only serves the community from the producers/makers side of things, but is also helping to fill in the gaps in their own business, between emergencies, classes, and regular meal prep. The rentals help bring in additional revenue while offering a state of the art, yet affordable space for burgeoning food entrepreneurs in the community.

Wrap it up

When it comes to taking care of our neighbors, Sonoma County has always shinned, and Sonoma Family Meal offers locals an opportunity to exercise this core principle. They have extended their size and scope over the past five years and continue to maximize the momentum of Sonoma County’s natural desire to help those around them.

“I’ve tried to replicate this project in other places, and it just doesn’t quite work the same,” said Irwin. “The passion and connection of our food community is key, but it’s also that so many of us have experienced loss and trauma, so we’re there for each other. Something I think many people don’t realize is the incredible resource we have in our senior population. So many folks here have retired from amazing careers and can bring such a wealth of experience to nonprofits. My ‘Wise Women Council’ of elders has helped to guide me every step of the way. I couldn’t do anything without them, and SFM would never exist without their tireless help.”

In her 2020 appearance on the podcast “The Bite Goes On,” Irwin best summed up the local penchant for helping.

“It shows the resilience of our county and how well we’re able to work together,” she said.

Visit sonomafamilymeal.org for more information on the organization, whether you want to volunteer, take classes, or rent commercial kitchen space.