New Kitchenette Coming Soon

Our Jewish Federation is incredibly proud to be a community resource for all. Over the 60 years I’ve been a part of the South Bend Jewish community, I’ve seen the Federation embrace our differences and emphasize inclusion, kindness, and respect.

To further this aim that our Federation is for everyone, the Jewish Federation Board of Directors, at their January 17th board meeting, voted to repurpose the art supply room into a non-kosher kitchenette.

The current folding door will separate the new kitchenette from the Youth Lounge located at the far west end of the building.

The purpose of creating this kitchenette is to allow community members to bring food for meetings and events and store cold items and warm food. The kitchenette will generally be open during the day when there are no Federation events and closed when the Federation holds community-wide events under the supervision of our mashgiach. South Bend Kosher will continue to supervise the Federation’s kosher kitchen, but it will not supervise the kitchenette.

The Youth Lounge will become a warm and inviting multipurpose room. This sun-filled area with large windows on three sides is well suited for a café, with tables and chairs. It can be used for small meetings, rentals for small parties, or a place to sit and schmooze. The space will continue to be used for our mahjong players, for Camp Ideal during the summer and winter breaks, and other Fed programming.

Items from the art supply room will be moved to the storage room (originally the coat room.) The new kitchenette will include a refrigerator, freezer, food warmer, microwave, toaster oven, and other appliances as needed. There are cabinets, shelves, and a sink readily available.

We anticipate new ideas for using this repurposed space and invite you to submit suggestions for names and ways to make the new kitchenette and adjacent café/multipurpose room into a friendly and welcoming space. Your donations to support this new initiative are welcomed.

Mara Boettcher
Community Contributor