October Kitchen - July 2020

Check out our July newsletter!

This is our way of saying you are important to us, and we truly value your business. Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to your friends and neighbors. ENJOY!

THE NOURISH LETTER

Meet the Team Behind Your Meals JULY 2020

OctoberKitchen.com | 860-533-0588 | 309 Green Rd., Manchester, CT 06042

It’s also really great to be working alongside my team. It’s fun to be a leader and teach them. We’ve hired some new guys to help meet the demand. I enjoy helping them learn the ropes in our kitchen so they can develop into good cooks with good habits. It’s been rewarding. When you run a business, you have to wear many different hats, not just a chef’s hat. I’ve often said that I’m really just an overblown cook. Making great food is second nature to me, but when it comes to mastering the ins and outs of marketing, I’ve had to learn on the fly. Now that things are moving along pretty well, it’s been nice to return to my roots and just cook the spaghetti or make the pot roast myself. Being in the kitchen right now has also reminded me what an amazing team we have in the front and the back of the house. Over these last few months, we’ve had to double the amount of food we’re getting out the door. To do this, we had to figure out a new way of doing things. How do we pack twice as many boxes in the same amount of space? How do we change our schedules so we can get twice as much food out? How do we meet all these new orders with the same level of quality and care? There have been a lot of new responsibilities and a lot of organic growth in the last few months. We’ve been able to adapt and things have run very smoothly. You can’t plan for everything too far ahead. As a result, I’ve always trusted that we’re smart enough and flexible enough to meet the challenges. I’ve never been proven wrong. Sometimes It’s Just Nice to Cook IN THE KITCHEN

In normal times, my week is filled with health fairs, seminars, lunch-and-learns and other events that I attend to help educate folks about healthy eating and the October Kitchen mission. Usually, I spend about two or three days a week actually cooking. The rest of my time is spent at various community events. But these are not usual times. There haven’t been any community events since February. And while I enjoy getting out there and meeting people, I have to admit that it’s been really nice just to be in the kitchen cooking. We’ve gotten pretty busy around here and I’ve found myself in the trenches twice as much as I usually am. In order to get everything done, I need to pitch in with my guys. I’ve been spending at least five days a week in the kitchen just cooking. With everything going on, it’s great to just spend the day baking cookies for the visiting nurses association or prep lunches to donate to the ambulance service or the respiratory care division at the hospital. Of course, this is on top of fulfilling our regular orders and the influx of new orders coming in. Things are really busy, but getting into the kitchen and cooking again has been fun.

We’ve gotten pretty busy around here and I’ve found myself in the trenches twice as much as I usually am.

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NEVER A DULL MOMENT Lin and Gil Celebrate 10 Years With October Kitchen

“We moved to Manchester right around the time October Kitchen opened their shop in Blue Duck Plaza. My husband and I happened to stop at a Subway in the same plaza. I saw October Kitchen’s ad and said to Gil, ‘Wow, that would be great for us!’ I am handicapped from a fall I took at work in 2009, so my walking and cooking abilities aren’t so great anymore. After we moved into our new home, we started the October Kitchen service. They are wonderful! So accommodating and so friendly. And the food is so wonderful! We’ve been with October Kitchen for 10 years and have never had a negative experience.”

Before retiring in 2012, Lin Stebbins was a registered nurse working at Travelers Insurance. For years she was the only nurse providing care for all the employees at their

–Lin Stebbins

location. That’s where she met Gil Stebbins, who worked on investments at Travelers. Gil would come down for his allergy shots, and the two quickly fell for each other. Though they did have a few obstacles to overcome. “I was married before and it wasn’t great, so there was no way I was getting married again,” Lin says, “but Gil was very persistent. Finally I turned around and accepted his proposal. It was the best thing I’ve ever done. Gil has made every day of our lives wonderful for me.” Lin and Gil got married in 1978 and have shared a wonderful 42 years of marriage together. They have three daughters and six grandchildren, and there is never a dull moment. In addition to being a registered nurse, Lin used to have a quilt business. On the weekends, she and Gil would go down to Virginia to sell the quilts at antique shows. Due to health issues, Lin and Gil are no longer in the quilt business, but Lin is in the process of finding homes for the remaining quilts. These days, Lin and Gil enjoy attending Bible study classes at First Baptist Church of Manchester. While they aren’t able to go out often, Lin and Gil like to keep busy and spend time together. They enjoy movie nights in front of their big TV, and Lin likes to read, do puzzles on her tables, and work on needlepoint. Lin and Gil have both experienced health problems — Lin with her back and Gil with overcoming a series of strokes — but they’re both still going strong.

“Ordering from October Kitchen helps us since we can eat healthy and don’t have to try to cook lunch or dinner,” says Lin. “I feel good about ordering from October Kitchen because the people are wonderful and they’ll do anything to help you. One Thanksgiving, Gil had to be with his dad, who was recovering from eye surgery, so I was going to be alone. Alison told me not to worry about it, and that someone from October Kitchen would bring the Thanksgiving boxes in and put them in the fridge for me. Who appears at the end of the day with the box? Paul himself! He came in, put the food away, sat and talked for a while and then gave me a big bear hug before he left. It is so nice to know that somebody at the head of the whole deal is willing to go out and bring a meal to you.” October Kitchen was founded with the purpose to nourish people, body and soul. This means delivering tasty, healthy food and being there when folks need us. We’re proud to be there for our community in more ways than one. Thank you, Lin and Gil, for being with us for all these years!

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FROM BURGLARY TO CHARITY Why One Restaurant Owner Gave Back Despite Being Robbed

His community, and many others far beyond, have reached out to Kahanawta and the business to

The pandemic has cost many restaurants much of their business, despite efforts to open for pickup and delivery. The unemployment numbers in the industry are also staggering. Imagine experiencing a burglary on top of that. This might cause many restaurants to shut down — but not Marco’s Pizza. Marco’s and several other establishments in The Colony, Texas, were robbed on April 19, smack dab in the middle of the pandemic, seemingly the worst time for a restaurant to be robbed. As it turned out, though, the robbery wasn’t very well-planned or effective. The surveillance cameras revealed that the robbers were inexperienced, fumbling through drawers for five minutes and trying to opening the safe with a pizza spatula. Although the thieves walked away with a small amount of cash — since there wasn’t much in the store to take — store owner Chamal Kahanawta’s initial response wasn’t bitterness, but worry for his community. He made a Facebook post that quickly went viral. It read, “In the coming months, if you find yourself in a situation unable to put food on the table, please stop by our store. There is no need to be shy or embarrassed. Just speak with the manager and quietly let us know you’ve seen this post. We will make sure your family gets a meal.”

express support for the giving act, despite a few people in the community attempting to steal from his business. One response from Malory Michelle Mudd said, “I love this response so much … a terrible situation where you can still empathize with those who

_____________________________ Write your name here and fax the completed puzzle to 860-533-0585, send it via empty delivery box or bring it to the shop and receive 10% off your next order . Limit one per customer. Expires July 31, 2020. WORD SEARCH CAESAR FIREWORKS GRILLING INDEPENDENCE Today, Kahanawta’s location is still serving pizzas for delivery and pickup and offers a variety of subs, salads and desserts. “The people who came and robbed me could have asked for food and would have got more value then what they were able to steal,” he told ABC News about the act. We hope we continue to see more compassionate business owners like you, Kahanawta. Cheers! have done wrong. This level of compassion is what we truly need. I’ve honestly never eaten at Marco’s, but this week I certainly will!”

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Every challenge was met with a beautiful little solution. Things have gelled together and we have a new, better system of doing things. We’re looking forward to future growth and being able to take more people when this is all over. That said, as much as I’ve enjoyed cooking and solving problems with the team, I’m looking forward to my vacation in July. It’s been a busy 2020!

The Kitchen will be closed Friday, July 3, through Sunday, July 12. There will be NO deliveries or storefront hours the week of July 7. Store reopens Monday, July 13. Phone calls and emails will be returned Sunday, July 12. Have a safe and happy Fourth of July! October Kitchen Is Going on Vacation!

LARKSPUR

PEACHES

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SWIMMING

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309 Green Rd. Manchester, CT 06042 INSIDE Back in the Kitchen page 1

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Have You Met the Stebbins?

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From Burglary to Charity

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Word Search

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4 Steps to Finally Sort Through Old Photos

FEEL BAD ABOUT THROWING AWAY PHOTOS? 4 Rules for Guilt-Free Photo Downsizing

the image? Could you share plenty of stories about riding around in Dad’s old truck or about how funny your best friend from college was? Keep those photos. Pictures of people whose names you can’t remember or blurry photos you can’t make out can all go. Rule No. 3: Edit Well If you have a lot of photos from a specific event or part of your life, think about how long each “chapter” of your life story would be. How much time would you spend writing about your cousin’s wedding or high school prom? If a certain event didn’t have that much meaning in your life, why dedicate pages and pages of a photo album to it? Rule No. 4: Throw Photos Away If a photo isn’t important enough to put in an album or frame on the wall, then it doesn’t need to stick around. Don’t put them in a box you’ll have to sort through later. Let the rejects go. After all that hard work, treat yourself to a photo album shopping spree so you can start organizing the meaningful photos you have left.

If you’ve reached a point in your life where you’ve started to downsize, then you’ve likely grappled with the difficult task of getting rid of photos. After decades of life, how are you supposed to choose which memories are important enough to keep and which aren’t? These four rules can help make this daunting task easier. Rule No. 1: Cut Scenic Views You don’t need dozens of photos of that campsite you went to on vacation one summer. If a location was really meaningful, like the beach at your honeymoon, then keep a few, but pictures of the places you’ve been to are far less special than pictures of the people you love. Rule No. 2: Tell a Story When you look at a photo, does it make you want to tell a story about the people or places in