I am the social worker at Peekskill High School. Over the past five years I have run an after school cooking club with ten to twelve participants a year. many of the students I work with as a social worker suffer from poverty, anxiety, depression, low self esteem, and other mental health conditions, and each year the club is a low-stress place where they can come, be a part of a group, learn meaningful skills, and have fun. We've made the four roman pasta dishes, quesabirria, chocolate chip cookies, fried chicken, a clone of Shake Shack's burger, and countless other dishes. Usually the kids walk home with ingredients to prepare the dishes at home. The group has proven to be as crucial an element of my work with the kids as my counseling sessions. At the end of each year, I try to organize a tip to a top-tier NYC restaurant. I am a food writer on the side, and through my contacts I have been able to organize trips two out of the five years, free of charge. This, of course, is challenging to pull off consistently, however. School funding to my program was cut at the end of last year. I was able to secure enough private gifts to pay for groceries for this year, but I'm currently working to arrange funding for next year.