The Cooking Club for children and teenagers of Avdiyivka, Donetsk region, was started three years ago at the local missionary center.

The first equipment for cooking (“The Young Cook” activity set) was brought to the missionary center by local volunteers.

“Our initial idea was to gather teenagers and teach them how to make cupcakes. At that time, we had no special equipment for cooking – neither over, no plates. We only had a couple of aprons, bakery molds and a microwave. The kids who came to our club liked the process of cooking, baking and eating their own food so much that they started asking us to arrange more meetings”, recalls one of the center’s missionaries Lyudmila Lebedeva.

In 2016, CBN-Emmanuel in partnership with Mercy Corps/USAid financed the purchase of all necessary equipment for the culinary club. They bought an oven, a cooker, a blender and other cooking utensils, as well as a stock of groceries for the next 6 months of cooking.

At the moment, 8 to 30 children come to the cooking club on a regular basis! The Cooking Club meets at the local missionary center in Avdiyivka at  3аMolodizhna St.

The visitors of the club are children and teenagers aged 3 to 18; many of them are orphans or come from low-income or large families. Children’s mothers also attend the club with their kids.

In addition to cooking skills, children learn how to pray and share the Word of God. After all, spiritual food is equally essential.  For children living in a town affected by war such meetings are very important. All members of the club are happy to bring their cooking masterpieces home to share them with parents and siblings.

Hamalii Liudmila, CBN-Ukraine