WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The Upper Valley Haven hopes this week to resume cooking activities for its ready-to-eat meals program, four months after a ruling by the Hartford Zoning Board of Adjustment forced the nonprofit to turn off its oven and stovetops.
On Thursday the Zoning Board will consider a new request by the Haven to allow cooking as a conditional use of the Haven’s on-site kitchen, which is also used by the Haven food shelf program for preparing and packaging to-go meals for distribution in the community.
At a meeting in June, the Zoning Board ruled that the Haven food shelf and food distribution program, which provides food items to approximately 17 food pantries in the region and serves over 90 visitors per day at its facility on Hartford Avenue, may not include cooking on-site. The board’s ruling primarily impacted the nonprofit’s Grab and Go program, which distributes pre-made, ready-to-eat meals for pick up on-site, as well as to local food pantries, including Moms in Recovery, an addiction recovery program operated by Dartmouth Health.
While some Grab and Go volunteers cook their meals at home and deliver them to the food shelf for packaging and distribution, many volunteers prefer to use the Haven’s kitchen, which receives a variety of donated ingredients.
“Some volunteers would rather cook their meals here than take the ingredients home to cook and then return with their meal,” Haven Executive Director Michael Redmond said.
Cooking the meals on-site also was a creative and resourceful way to utilize the Haven pantry’s perishable food donations, particularly produce, which volunteers would frequently use in warm soups or stews.
Longtime Haven volunteer Steven Bachner, of Norwich, said that cooking on-site has aimed in part to “mitigate food waste.” A majority of the perishable donations are produce, including vegetables that pantry visitors do not frequently select. Some of these items, such as eggplant or onions, also are not typically consumed raw. By cooking these items in hot meals, Haven volunteers put the donations to use and help familiarize meal recipients with certain foods and how to use them.
“We are literally rescuing perishable foods and creating a healthy meal so that foods don’t get wasted,” Bachner said.
The Haven would also use their stove and oven to warm up cold food, such as a donated tray of lasagna, prior to distribution, as some meal recipients lack the resources to heat up food themselves.
Haven volunteers are still making cold meals on-site for the Grab and Go program, including sandwiches and salads, Redmond said. And the Zoning Board permitted the Haven to use a microwave oven to warm individual meals before distributing.
But Redman said he would like to be able to prepare hot meals again for recipients as winter nears and temperatures continue to drop.
“We would really like to be able to cook warm items like soups and stews,” he said. “What is better on a cold winter’s day than a warm soup?”
The Haven’s new application to the Zoning Board has amended its definition of “food distribution” to add “cooking” and “preparation” of foods to the definition submitted to the board in June.
According to Nathan Stearns, attorney for the Haven, this amended definition aims to address an issue raised by the Zoning Board at the June meeting, in which board members noted that the Haven’s definition of “food distribution” said only “the storing, packaging and distribution” of foods, with no mention that foods would be cooked.
But even with an amended definition of the program activity, Zoning Board members expressed other concerns about the Grab and Go, according to the board’s June 8 meeting minutes. Board member Tom Franklin stated concern about “safety” issues that pertain to food handling and cooking. Board Chairman Steve Lagasse said his primary concern was about the Haven being a pickup location of meals, which Lagasse felt poses a greater traffic safety risk. Lagasse even said that he might accept on-site cooking for the purpose of distributing food to other locations, though not for Grab and Go meals.
The Zoning Board’s kitchen-use ruling occurred as the Haven was applying to the town for permission to build a 20-bed low-barrier shelter, an overnight housing accommodation that would not require an identification, criminal background checks or program conditions such as sobriety. The Zoning Board rejected the Haven’s application for the shelter in July, by a vote of 3-2. Neighbors who attended both public hearings for the Haven raised similar complaints about the Haven’s programs increasing traffic and safety concerns resulting from the growth in the Haven’s services and visitors.
In June, Lagasse also suggested that the nonprofit LISTEN, which serves free community dinners six evenings per week, including a to-go dinner option, would be a more appropriate provider of to-go meals than the Haven.
While Redmond said he greatly values LISTEN’s program, the meal services are not overlapping. The Haven’s Grab and Go meals are available for pickup as early as 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday or until 3 p.m. Fridays. Angela Zhang, programs director for LISTEN, said that having multiple meal providers is “tremendously” beneficial to maximizing food access, while noting that individual programs typically are not designed to support every need within a community.
“I think that everybody who pitches in helps toward addressing food insecurity,” Zhang said.
Though the Grab and Go program originated during the pandemic, the Haven has been cooking on-site for the community for several years. Prior to the pandemic, the Haven operated the “Caruso Cafe,” a community drop-in where visitors could socialize or grab “a quick bite” when stopping by the food pantry. According to Redmond, the Haven switched to the Grab and Go program as the number of cafe visitors grew and the Haven wanted to make the meals more accessible to a larger number of recipients.
The Hartford Planning Commission has already approved the Haven’s conditional use request, including to allow on-site cooking and food preparation, at a meeting on June 11. The Zoning Board must also approve the request. The board will hold the public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Hartford Town Hall in White River Junction.
Patrick Adrian may be reached at padrian@vnews.com or at 603-727-3216.