Elaine Boone peels green apples at the end of a long prep table, erected in the space that used to house a dessert café selling pies, cookies and mousse. Across from her, former Neon Tiger bar manager Josh Gillette performs the same task, bearing a smile that normally wouldn’t accompany such a simple activity. After just five minutes at Amor Healing Kitchen ’s West Ashley production site, it’s clear each of the nonprofit’s volunteers genuinely enjoys the work.
“It’s a happy place to be,” said Boone, a retired culinary arts teacher, as she slices into one apple after another. Boone and Gillette are making applesauce, earmarked for the 90 to 120 clients Amor Healing Kitchen serves each week. Many of them are food insecure, and more than half have been diagnosed with cancer.
For 80 percent of the Charleston nonprofit’s clients, the meals are free for 12 to 24 weeks. Amor's mission combines nutritional education and community outreach with teen empowerment. On this Wednesday afternoon, half of the cooks are high schoolers who came for a 21⁄2-hour shift.
Gigi Miller and Caitlyn Denaux, sophomores at James Island Charter High School, get started on a fresh batch of Hummingbird Cake muffins, while Amor Healing Kitchen head chef Kenny Veasel stirs three types of beans in a large steel pot — the start of a three-bean chili. To his right, Porter-Gaud School junior Henry Williamson and elementary school teacher Kate Hudson soak cashews to make a vegan cashew cream..