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St. Mary's Center provides the only winter shelter exclusively for seniors in the Bay Area. Seniors, feeling acutely vulnerable, often avoid shelters that are full of younger people, and opt to sleep out on the street. The shelter is open from the beginning of December through the end of April. The shelter guests receive a home-cooked dinner courtesy of volunteers like the Moraga Girl Scouts.
For this Moraga Troop, it was a perfect opportunity to combine working toward a new skills badge and giving back to the community. The commercial kitchen at the center is well suited for accommodating 12 aspiring chefs. The girls have started working on a cadette badge called "New Cuisines," which includes learning to prepare dishes from other countries and other regions of the United States. For this particular cooking class, they made a menu straight out of the south with Louisiana favorites. Homemade gumbo, rice, broccoli and cauliflower casserole, and potato salad, made from scratch, were prepared and enjoyed by all. Three brownie (third grade) scouts competed the meal with a banana bread pudding for dessert.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA