Kitchen (1998)
During her time in the Peace Corps, CAMO’s founder witnessed thousands of meals for the hospital being made over wood burning stoves each day. Upon returning years later, many of the former staff were infected with bronchitis, lung infections and other illnesses due to the smoke they had worked with everyday. The kitchen staff was still preparing and serving from rat infested, non-refrigerated and smoky facilities. Contaminated food was being cooked on wood burning stoves and ovens which was unhealthy for not only the patients but the workers as well. Because of these horrible working conditions, the first project that CAMO undertook was the renovations to the kitchen.
CAMO designed and built the kitchen in 1998, taking out the wood burning stoves and replacing them with electric, modern appliances. CAMO invested $68,000 to provide ventilation, conventional ovens, grills, fryers, food warmers, clean storage, refrigeration, and a cafeteria. The money was raised by social events held in Canton, Ohio where a women’s group helped to raise $35,000 towards the project. The remaining funds came from a memorial fund.
Today the kitchen cooks up to 1,000 meals a day.
