Volunteer Wave Cooks for The Dugout Community

On June 20, 2025, the Volunteer Wave community came together at Watari Kitchen for a special day of cooking, connection, and giving back. With 10 volunteers joining us, we stepped into the kitchen to prepare a community meal for The Dugout, a space that supports people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

This visit was a little different from our usual kitchen shifts. With summer officially here, we wanted to try something new and move away from our usual soups. After all, while soup is comforting, a warm summer day calls for something a little different. So we took on the challenge of creating a pork Italian Asian fusion stir fry and potato salad with caramelized onions.

Leading the team was Chef Adam from our Volunteer Wave community, who guided everyone through the process and helped turn a group of volunteers into a well-organized kitchen crew. From prepping ingredients to working through each step of the recipes, everyone played an important role in bringing the meal together.

It was a big undertaking. There were plenty of vegetables to chop, ingredients to prepare, and details to get right. But that is part of what makes these kitchen experiences so meaningful. Every task, no matter how small, contributes to something bigger. By the end of the day, we had created a meal made with care that would be shared with members of the community.

Once everything was prepared and the kitchen was cleaned up, the meals were ready to be delivered to The Dugout. Seeing the finished dishes come together made all the effort worth it. What started as a room full of volunteers learning and working together became a meal that could bring comfort and nourishment to others.

A huge thank you to Watari Kitchen for welcoming us into your space, to Chef Adam from our Volunteer Wave team for leading the team, and to every volunteer who showed up ready to roll up their sleeves and help. These moments remind us that volunteering is not just about what we create, but also about the connections we build along the way.

We can’t wait to be back in the kitchen again soon.