REALITY KITCHEN BENEFIT 

 

W/ THE EUGENE PEACE CHOIR

 

and CHRISTINE HICKS

 

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 24

 

REALITY KITCHEN

 

245 VAN BUREN EUGENE

 

 

 

What: BENEFIT FOR THE REALITY KITCHEN

 

WITH THE EUGENE PEACE CHOIR IN CONCERT

 

When: FRIDAY FEBRUARY 24

 

Time:  7:00 pm

 

Where: THE REALITY KITCHEN

 

245 Van Buren, Eugene

 

Admission: Sliding scale donations, All ages welcome, No one turned away for lack of  funds 

 

Contact info: Jim Evangelista 541.337.1323/realitykitchen@gmail.com

 

Website: www.realitykitchen.org

 

High res pics available by request.

 

The first in a series of concerts and public events to benefit the new Reality Kitchen, 245 Van Buren St. in Eugene, will host the Eugene Peace Choir on February 24 at 7:30 pm in the new space and all are welcome. 

 

The ongoing work of the Reality Kitchen is to join individuals and families together with a community of resources, skills and experiences they need to successfully transition from school to work; from homelessness to residency; from burdening dependency to self guided success, personal actualization and independence.

 

The Reality Kitchen is committed daily to reach out to the Whiteaker neighborhood and greater Lane County offering academically based services and programs designed to nourish all learners, with and without disabilities, to grow personally, professionally, and imaginatively.

 

Weekly schedule includes Open Mic, Mondays at 7 – 9 pm; Arts and Crafts night Tuesday and Reader's Theater on Wednesdays both from from 6:30 till 8:30 pm. Regular movie nights are planned as well as other community consciousness raising events. 

 

Our intimate "black box" performance space is available for outside 

 

projects of all kinds, scheduling inquiries welcomed and encouraged. 

 

See the Kitchen’s website, www.realitykitchen.org for more information. Contact Jim Evangelista for interviews and questions at541.337.1323 or email realitykitchen@gmail.com.

 

 

 

Dear neighbor and friend,

 

 

 

We live in a community of “choice rather than chance of birth. Reason found each day on the side of cooperation, conservation and community.” It is said that ‘we see further because we are standing on the shoulders of giants’ and Bill Wooten, a visionary and local legacy spoke of “reason that stands with those who reduce their wants and simplify their needs; who lessen their demands upon the world’s resources.” He crystalized a vision for our community’s future that we enjoy the fruits of and regularly harvest today.

 

 

 

Together with his wife and partner, Cindy, they owned and operated the Odyssey Coffee House. They are credited with spearheading the establishment of the Eugene Saturday Market, as well as the Oregon Country Fair, both essential events that characterize and support much of our community today. Together the Wootens served as the Fair’s first managers and it was their belief that the “movement” had to institutionalize itself economically to sustain into the future. Bill reflected “reason stands with those that treat neighbors as friends, friends as brothers and sisters, and this earth as our one and only home.” Believing this deeply, he urged us, “let us so stand together.”

 

 

 

Painting murals locally since 1992, living in a school bus on our Cottage Grove mountain home for years while raising a son and earning a Master’s in Special Education from UO has given me experiences and friendships both precious and inspiring. I am grateful to have worked for years in Lane ESD Life Skills classrooms, as well as the opportunity and joy to create and run the Library, a free book exchange, at the Country Fair for the past 15 years, together with my son Diego. Learning and growing from an authentically handcrafted life has been possible because this community has supported and nurtured my heart’s dreams towards success, as it has so many others.  This is why I am reaching out for your help at this time.

 

 

 

At Reality Kitchen Nonprofit, located at 245 Van Buren in the Whiteaker neighborhood of Eugene, we seek to create an increasing variety of community inclusion experiences for young adults with developmental disabilities. Our mission is to reach out to the Whiteaker neighborhood and greater Lane County offering charitable and educational services and programs designed to nourish all learners, with and without disabilities, to grow personally, professionally, and imaginatively. To help individuals and families by providing a community of resources, skills and experiences they need to successfully transition from school to work; homelessness to residency; burdening dependency to self guided success, personal actualization and independence.

 

 

 

For students transitioning to independence, an important community inclusion activity has been delivering door to door in different neighborhoods a “shopper newspaper” that fewer and fewer residents we find are interested in receiving citing resource and recycling concerns, among other reasons. The paper lacks meaningful local content and could be replaced with a quarterly or monthly that would be more welcomed if it were a more vital, fresh, printed option for sharing and stimulating the thoughts and conversation of our community at this important point in time.

 

 

 

Please be part of this effort and submit a 500 to 800 word essay on the topic of community: visioning, inclusion, activism, planning and building. Many perspectives should be represented: education for those with and without disabilities, business and financial, land use, development and resourcing, housing, growth, sustainability, agricultural, personal and spiritual faith, the spectrum of arts and cultural expression and knowledge sharing. We all bring so much to the conversation and these thoughts ought to be represented and brought to our homes, gatherings, kitchens and places of celebration and worship. This will be a free publication, supported by advertising and financial contributions; all tax deductible and the work product of the academic program at Reality Kitchen Nonprofit. Letters from the larger community will be sought and published as well, but your help and participation is needed for this most vital, first edition.

 

 

 

Waiting for others to take the lead is not an option when it comes to doing this well. Please consider offering something you’ve recently written, preparing something new, or perhaps submitting art, poetry or a favorite recipe for a meal or the future. I encourage you to share this request with others you know that should participate. Feel free to call or email me with you thoughts, questions and submissions.  I hope to begin receiving submissions in the next two weeks and go to press in a month’s time. In advance, let me thank you for your consideration and the time you’ll take to help this first publication find a welcome response in our community.

 

 

 

 

 

Peace,

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Evangelista

 

Director, Reality Kitchen Nonprofit

 

541-337-1323