Hello Cambridge Community Kitchen Supporters!

As many of you know, we are coming into the last 3 weeks of our Kickstarter campaign.  We are 77% of the way there,  thanks to 152 individual supporters donating anything from $1 to $555!  Well, we are looking to finish strong, and we need your help to do it.  A few of you took advantage of the bonus 2 lbs of bacon last week, and this week, there is a whole new slew of incentives.  If you donate or increase your donation to our kickstarter campaign this week, and this week alone, look for these special, bonus gifts in addition to the normal kickstarter gifts.

1)   If you donate or increase your donation to over $111, you will get a PDF of CCK’s first mini cookbook.  In the works now with the great design of Kairn Designs and our education team, it will have several awesome recipes for students and their families to make to get them into the kitchen. 

2)   If you donate or increase your donation to over $222, you will receive one pound of delicious bacon from culinary entrepreneurs (and CCK Board members) Dan Meyers and Matt Stein of Happy Pig Salumi.

3)   If you donate or increase your donation to over $555, you can get yourself one week of Cuisine en Locale’s amazing Shared Food Program (http://metropedalpower.com/cuisine-en-locale), good for any time in the next year.  Having experienced some of this food at board meetings, it is a truly awesome deal. 

So, consider donating at any of these levels, or however much you feel inspired to give.  We are getting closer and closer to our final goal, and your help, either personally or by sending along our information, will help us get there.  This will bring us one much larger step closer to opening our doors and offering up classes and kitchen space to the Cambridge community and beyond!

Thank you so much, and keep abreast of updates on our blog, facebook, or twitter.  If you have any questions, or are interested in contacting us, please feel free to email cambridgecommunitykitchen@gmail.org

Onward,

CCK Board of Directors

JJ Gonson, Sarah Martin, Dan Meyers, Matthew Stein, and Brianne Studer

Hello current CCK backers,

We wanted to thank everyone who sent around our last email.  In one weekend, we went from 40% of the way toward or goal to 65% there.  In addition, we received several offers of pro bono legal assistance, which means your donations will be going toward things like pilot educational programs, costs for refabbing a space, and licensing and variance fees.

In the last month of our Kickstarter campaign, we will be running weekly incentives.  Each week, we will add a bonus gift.  Some weeks, it may require larger contributions, others smaller, depending on the gift.  This week, if you donate or increase your donation to over $500, not only will you get the normal kickstarter thank you gifts, but you also will receive 2 lbs of delicious bacon from Happy Pig Salumi.  Farm raised pork, cured and smoked by The Happy Pig Guys, Matthew Stein and Dan Meyers (who also happen to be two awesome CCK board members).  So, if you love some delicious, local meat products, consider donating or upping your donation by Sunday night at midnight.  Keep your eyes on your email, facebook, or twitter for the new incentive next week.

In other news, as a heads up for individuals donating at the $555 level, and a notification to everyone else, we are planning our first Gala for September 24th, 2011.  We wanted to highlight the amazing, seasonal produce available that time of year, and also have time to adequately plan the event.  It's also very likely that by then, we will be in a space!

One last thing.  Some of you have been waiting for opportunities to volunteer with CCK for a while now, and we wanted to let you know about 2 possible upcoming chances.  First, keep your eye out for an email in the coming week as we are looking to move the donation of equipment we received to affordable storage space.  Those with strong backs welcome.  Moral support always welcome as well.  We also found out that we will be running a large community garden plot in North Cambridge, and we will likely need help starting and maintaining the garden.  So, for those of you with gardening experience, keep your ear to the blog for more info as these things solidify. We are looking forward to excellent gardening/ cooking programs as we continue, and to working with you all to make it happen. 

Thank you very much for your continued support!  We are running full steam ahead toward making CCK a reality.

Sincerely,

CCK Board of Directors

JJ Gonson, Sarah Martin, Dan Meyers, Matthew Stein, and Brianne Studer

Hello there, wonderful CCK backers!

Our Kickstarter campaign has been live for 48 days now, and in the last 3 days, we've gone from 40% of the way there to 64% with 117 individuals contributing $7,191!  Thank you to all of our new backers.  Welcome to the community.  As you can imagine, we on the board of CCK have been very busy the last month and a half.  Here's the brief overview of news for all our great supporters:

1)  We've been looking at a space.  It's small enough to be feasible that if things go well with this space, we could be open within 6 months, and large enough to still allow us to operate all of our membership areas.  Keep your fingers crossed as we have inspections and talk with the city about zoning.

2)  After having a write up in Edible Boston over the winter, we received a great donation of commercial kitchen equipment.  This donation was sizable, and we were very lucky to receive it from John O'Neill of Cisco Systems.  A group of volunteers and board members picked up the equipment a few weeks ago, and we are now taking inventory and determining what we should keep for our future spaces, and what we will try to sell to help raise the funds for space and construction costs.  

3)  We've started a pilot teen cooking program at Area 4 Youth Center in Cambridge.  Aside from having a blast with a small group of teens at the center, we are learning a lot about equipment needs, and types of activities.  We will likely be looking to start other pilot programs for different age groups over the summer.  So if you know of an organization or community center looking for this type of programming, keep us in mind.

4)  We've filled out our 1023 form to obtain our 501(c)3 non-profit status.  While this process takes a while, this solidifies our intention of becoming a non-profit.

Needless to say, thanks in part to lots and lots of work by Board members and volunteers, CCK has made a lot of progress in the past few months.  We are looking forward to where the next month and a half will get us to.  

Thank you, again, for your continued support, and if you haven't signed up for our emails, check out our website and sign up.

Sincerely,

CCK Board of Directors

JJ Gonson, Sarah Martin, Daniel Meyers, Matthew Stein, and Brianne Studer

What a fantastic start!

With 89 days to go, 25 fantastic backers have kicked in $1900 bucks, bringing us to the 17% mark. Thank you for your support!

We hope you can help us to spread the word about the Cambridge Community Kitchen Kickstarter Campaign. If you're on twitter, here are some handy tweets you can post:

I just donated to @CambridgeKitch on their Kickstarter campaign here: http://kck.st/gg8Wez

Like great food? Help support local farmers and food entrepreneurs through @CambridgeKitch here: http://kck.st/gg8Wez

Its time for @CambridgeKitch and their big debut! Donate and help here http://kck.st/gg8Wez

Hey! @CambridgeKitch is starting their fund raising, help them out here: http://kck.st/gg8Wez

Not a twitter person? Share this with your friends on facebook! Go to our facebook page and "Share" the link to our kickstarter campaign. Share it with everyone you know and spread it around!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cambridge-Community-Kitchen/142195862460379

Sincerely,

The founding board members at CCK:
JJ Gonson
Sarah Martin
Brianne Studer
Dan Meyers
Matthew Stein