Kids’ Pasta Project (KPP) worked together with Families Plus, Partners, Friends of Youth and Nature to bring together the community for the first annual dinner “by kids, for kids.” On June 27, 2026, nearly 140 guests came to this special event at the Grove, where the large back dining room was rented for the occasion. A host of businesses and individuals offered financial and in-kind support and a silent auction helped greatly increase the earnings; Families Plus, Partners and Friends of Youth and Nature each received over $4,000 thanks to the generosity the generosity of sponsors and the success of the event.
KPP’s role was to train the youth volunteers to make and serve the dinner. Through five afternoon sessions at the commercial kitchen the Abraham Connection allowed us to use in Delta, kids learned a multitude of kitchen skills including how to make pasta dough, roll out lasagne noodles with a pasta machine, make marinara sauce, roll out meatballs and more. They were also given instructions for working in the dining area and practiced taking orders, serving, grating cheese and grinding pepper over the plates of lasagne for the guests. KPP teen managers, Sierra and Saskia, were key to implementing the dining area training and service at the dinner, along with some help from Tess and Lorali, who were in charge of decor. KPP managers Joyce and Jenny set up food serving stations at each end of the dining area to accommodate the large crowd.
The Dance Bandits–a rockin’ band out of the North Fork Valley–played in the courtyard, providing atmosphere and background fun for the kids who played frisbee in the yard after finishing all their hard work. The music also prompted some of the guests to dance!
Since 2009, KPP’s partnerships with the organizations it supports have become more dynamic, with partner organizations helping market dinners, share information on social media, solicit local food and beverage donations, and provide volunteers for events when needed. The “for kids, by kids” gala in Delta reflected the collaborative nature of these partnerships.
Two plating stations were set up at the Gala where the youth volunteers picked up the lasagne dinners to serve to the guests.