Give Me Shelter: Jessie’s House healing families through food with new cookbook

The cookbook features dozens of recipes for all types of meals. Each family that leaves the shelter gets their own copy, but they're also for sale to the public online.

One organization is taking the term “comfort food” to a whole new level.

During this year’s annual’s Global Edmonton Give Me Shelter campaign, we introduce you to a heartwarming initiative: those who have used the services of an Edmonton-area shelter have found a way to strengthen their connection through food.

The kitchen is often the heart of the home. The place where people share food and their stories. That’s proven to be the case at Jessie’s House in Sturgeon County, too.

“We have a lot of really serious, sometimes heartfelt conversations in the kitchen and it’s one of the things that I love most about Jessie’s House,” said Lynne Rosychuk, founder of the Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation and Jessie’s House.

The foundation provides meals to the families and kids staying there. The comfort food helps them feel safe.

“People come in here and they may not have had nutritious meals for a long time. This is the first time they get a hot, cooked, nutritious meal and once they feel like their one need is being met, they start opening up to you,” said Rosychuk.

When those families leave Jessie’s House, staff say they ask for the recipes. Scent and taste can be powerful evokers of emotion and the food is a trigger of the fond memories created in the kitchen.

Now, instead of providing them one by one, the shelter took it to the next level.