For five years now, the Mustard Seed Family Centre has been quietly changing lives, one crock pot at a time.
The vision of Pastor Tom Oshiro, the centre and its team of volunteers and community partners aspire to break the cycle of poverty by helping low-income families acquire new skills and gain confidence.
Rob Joslin, who began volunteering with the centre when it opened in 2012, has helped out with every class since then, convinced of its power to transform.
“We see people come in without a job and then leave with the confidence to get one,” he said. “It’s amazing how it changes people’s lives.”
The classes runs twice a year with up to 10 parents attending class once a week for 12 to 15 weeks. They receive training in everything from first aid and safe food preparation to money management, goal setting and employment strategies.
Joslin, a professional chef who cooked for hotels and care homes before being sidelined by health issues, draws on his knowledge and decades of experience to teach families how to stretch their food budgets and serve more nutritious meals to their children.
In one of the more popular sessions, he shows parents how to make chicken stock for soup and properly cut up a whole chicken, which is cheaper than buying one already in pieces.
Diane Pearson, family resource co-ordinator, said that demonstration alone has had a surprising impact over the years.
“Twice now I’ve had single moms say: ‘I can’t believe how empowering it was to cut up that chicken properly,’ ” she said. “It just was amazing the response from cutting up a chicken.”
She credits Joslin with making people feel comfortable enough to try something new and then showing them how to get the most value from what they’ve learned.
“Of course, that helps their food dollar and it also gives them a skill — and once you have a skill and a feeling that you can learn something, it’s transferable.”
Joslin also demonstrates how to use a crock pot to produce meals from tougher cuts of meat that tend to be more affordable.
“These are the ways that our grandparents used to cook, right?” Joslin said.
“It’s all part of helping them stretch their budget and time, because a crock pot is something that, the night before you go to bed, you can get things ready so that in the morning you plug in that crock pot and it cooks all day while you’re out and then you come home and you’ve got a meal for your family.”
The group shares a crock pot meal during the course, and the family centre sends each parent home with their own pot, many of which have been donated by the thrift store at Oak Bay United Church.
The successes have mounted over the years.
Pearson said the program has given people the confidence to finish high school or go to college or return to the workforce.
“It’s all good in my book,” she said. “I just love hearing the stories.” One woman told her that the program was the “spark” that started things happening for her.
“We had one woman who went back to school. She was sidelined by a few personal issues, as often happens, and she came back a couple of years later and showed us her RN degree — she finished her nursing studies.”
Joslin, too, has witnessed the program’s impact, which is one of the reasons he keeps coming back. “You can just see the change in them over the 14 weeks,” he said. “It’s amazing for me to be part of that.”
He urged others to help if they can to support a program that truly offers a hand up rather than a handout.
“We’re changing lives,” he said, “and the financial support for that program definitely goes to changing those lives.”
The Times Colonist Christmas Fund helps the Mustard Seed.
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There is an urgent need for donations to help the needy this Christmas season. Most charities are reporting a serious drop in donations.
Since 1956, this newspaper has collected money to benefit the less fortunate during the Christmas season. We work with the Salvation Army and the Mustard Seed, which handle the disbursement of most of the funds, and also provide financial help to Our Place.
To donate, go online to: timescolonist.com/donate. You will be directed to a Canada Helps donation form; once you make your donation, a tax receipt will be provided immediately.
Or mail a cheque, payable to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund Society, to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund, 2621 Douglas St., Victoria, V8T 4M2.
You can use your credit card by phoning 250-995-4438 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. Outside those hours, messages will be accepted.
Thank you for your generosity.
