AMOR Healing Kitchen, local food non-profit, aims to nourish. Every week, they come together with teen volunteers to put together plant-based meals, package the meals in compostable to-go ware, and deliver directly to community members who are critically or chronically ill, or in recovery from treatment. AMOR works knowing that food has power to connect and heal; that building community also builds foundations for the future; and, as you might guess from their name, that this all works best when centering love.

 

Maria Kelly, founder of AMOR, came to this mission through personal experience. She grew up learning from her mother that food has power to connect and heal. And later, when her mom was living with colon cancer, Maria cooked healing meals for her to foster comfort and strength. Maria also comes from a background of teaching high schoolers locally -- which comes in handy when empowering AMOR’s teen volunteers, teaching culinary and leadership skills through their weekly kitchen work.

 

AMOR’s work is deeply interwoven with the greater Lowcountry food community. They operate out of the state-of-the-art kitchen at Sweetgrass Garden (a Lowcountry Farm for Climate Action). From there, AMOR has access to fresh, organic produce and can compost with ease. The Healing Kitchen receives organic produce donated weekly by Charleston Parks and is sustained by the generosity of local partners. They also host community events and collaborate with local plant based chefs for cooking classes. 

 

Their plant-based meal mission promotes climate-friendly agricultural practices, but that’s not their only climate action contribution -- one of the most important things we can all do in the wake of the climate crisis is to grow community. In the hard times to come, there’s no greater climate resilience than in connecting, building networks of care, and supporting each other in times of vulnerability and need.