Our kitchens provide a place of inspiration and important conversations

By Dennis Archambault

The kitchen is a place of inspiration, a “sacred space,” the “heart of the home.” Loretta Bush, president & CEO of Authority Health, has often said that our kitchens are places for important conversations as we prepare meals, whether routine weekday meals or special gatherings of friends and family.

For Amanda Dawnrich, a former Albert Schweitzer Fellow at Authority Health, it is a place for personal revelation and therapy. She led a group of women – returning citizens – in a series of conversations while preparing favorite dishes as her fellowship project. The nostalgia and pleasure of familiar food created a safe and comfortable platform for discussing difficult topics from the past and uncertain future.

Martin Luther King, Jr., found himself troubled on Jan. 27, 1956. That night, early in his civil rights ministry, he received a threatening phone call. Fearing for his life, he went to the kitchen of the family home and sat at the table with a cup of coffee. “I was ready to give up,” he recalled. “In this state of exhaustion, when my courage had all but gone, I decided to take my problem to God. With my heads in my hands, I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud.” His prayer was answered from a voice within which directed him to “stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth.”

Dr. King’s kitchen, Amanda Dawnrich’s kitchen, and Authority Health’s Ruby Cole Community Kitchen are spaces for both solitude and communal engagement, each bringing their own sense of nourishment needed for resilience.

Dennis Archambault is vice president of Public Affairs for Authority Health.