Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
Quick Take:
A Eugene nonprofit delivers free, organic, nutritionally dense meals to people facing health crises, operating with volunteers of all ages who prepare meals three days a week from a shared commercial kitchen.
Positive Community Kitchen is a Eugene nonprofit that delivers free, organic meals to community members going through serious health crises, with most clients affected by cancer.
Operating out of a shared commercial kitchen at 150 Shelton Mcmurphey Blvd., the organization relies on volunteers of all ages who prepare and deliver nutritionally dense food three days each week.
The kitchen, known as PCK, got its start as a healing-garden project for South Eugene High School in 2013 after two students were swept into the ocean by a sneaker wave in 2011.
“It evolved into a food endeavor about two years later,” said Executive Director Christine Richman. “The model was education for the teens, producing good food. And then the good food had yet another benefit” in helping people in the community.
Helping people get through difficulties
PCK helps residents facing a short-term medical crisis, as long as they have a phone for delivery coordination. There’s no charge, no income requirements and no application process. The organization receives referrals from Willamette Valley Cancer Institute, Oregon Neurology and other medical providers.
Each week, everyone in the client household receives a bag with two soups, two entrees, an entree salad, and a dessert. The program serves clients for up to 12 weeks. Volunteers do not have to know how to cook to help out.
“We want to take care of parents, children and caretakers, so that nobody in the household has to worry about cooking,” Richman said. “It’s a supplemental program, but it’s a nutritionally dense program, so that if you can only eat a little bit while you’re healing, you’re going to get as many vitamins and minerals as possible to help you in your healing journey.”
Every meal choice at PCK follows strict nutritional guidelines. All ingredients are organic, gluten-free and designed around a “food as medicine” philosophy that excludes refined sugars and certain oils while emphasizing nutrient density. Kitchen staff take allergies seriously, maintaining substitute options to ensure everyone can safely enjoy their meals. The kitchen is dedicated gluten-free.
Katie Hamilburg coordinates the nutritious and seasonal menus prepared by Positive Community Kitchen volunteers. Credit: Vanessa Salvia / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Roasted red peppers are destined for the chickpea fajita bowl meal. Credit: Vanessa Salvia / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Cooked chickpeas and spinach are destined for the chickpea fajita bowl meal. Credit: Vanessa Salvia / Lookout Eugene-Springfield
Katie Hamilburg, a former fine dining pastry chef from Boston who relocated to Eugene for the PCK job as manager of nutrition education in early 2024, coordinates three cooking shifts with about 15 volunteers each day.
Hamilburg brings creativity to the nutritional guidelines, developing globally-inspired menus that rotate seasonally, featuring dishes like roasted eggplant soup, cream of asparagus soup, roasted beet salad, chickpea fajita bowls with brown rice and beans, butter chicken stew with jasmine rice and desserts like apple almond berry cakes. The kitchen preserves peak-season produce, such as summer tomatoes, whenever possible by roasting and freezing for winter use.
“I try very hard to keep it seasonal,” Hamilburg said. “I’m all for getting it in the peak of season and stocking up on it. And our menus are meant to be three to four meals in each bag. So I kind of try to put things together with some cohesion.”
The organization has approximately 100 volunteers with about 45 active volunteers across a three-day cycle: Mondays for prep work, Tuesdays for cooking, and Wednesdays for portioning, packing, and delivery. Tuesday afternoons are particularly busy as volunteers transform Monday’s prep into complete meals.
The volunteers range in age from high school students to retirees, and many are from South Eugene, where the program originated. The high schoolers tend to get involved because of community service requirements, but they stay involved because of the meaningful work.
Meals always come with dessert, such as apple almond berry cakes. Credit: Vanessa Salvia / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Miriam Tello preparing dressing for the fajita bowls. Credit: Vanessa Salvia / Lookout Eugene-Springfield 
Tuesday afternoons are a flurry of activity as Clara Petke-Long (left), Clover Cilley Priem (back), Katie Hamilburg (center) and other volunteers work to prepare the week’s meals at Positive Community Kitchen. Credit: Vanessa Salvia / Lookout Eugene-Springfield
Miriam Tello, a 15-year-old South Eugene exchange student from Spain who volunteers, discovered PCK through a friend’s recommendation. “We have a great time, and then we also help people,” she said, while preparing dressing for the fajita bowls.
D. Jade Grider, a 20-year-old working through youth nonprofit partnership Connected Lane County, plans to pursue business administration with dreams of managing similar community organizations.
“Everybody likes to be here so everybody’s very enthusiastic, which is very nice, and it feels really good to be putting good things out into the community,” Grider said.
Personal connections
For many volunteers, the work carries personal significance. Clover Cilley Priem, a kitchen coordinator who started as a volunteer, stayed because his best friend’s family received PCK meals during treatment.
“Having her text me every week and be like, ‘Thank you so much for the great meal’ was really incredible,” Cilley Priem said.
Clara Petke-Long, a senior advertising student at the University of Oregon, started volunteering her freshman year. She appreciates how the work keeps her busy beyond campus life.
“I literally just looked up ‘volunteer in Eugene,’ and I came to the orientation here, and thought this place was awesome,” she said. “It’s so easy to get so caught up in college life… you’re only around people your age. I wanted to be involved and just keep busy.”
PCK operates entirely through local support from individual donors, business sponsorships, foundation grants and food donations from organizations such as Hummingbird Wholesale and local farms. Recent donations included 30 pounds of salmon from a local company, and Hummingbird Wholesale regularly contributes beans and rice. The group’s primary fundraiser, the Harvest of Hope, is scheduled for Oct. 23 at The Shedd in Eugene.
To volunteer with Positive Community Kitchen or to refer someone in need, visit their website or call 541-249-4942.
