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Students in the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Department had a Thanksgiving dinner dress rehearsal this year, as they prepared dinner for Kid's Kitchen.

Kid's Kitchen is a non-profit organization that provides meals for Anchorage children. “We serve them fresh, hot nutritious meals at three different locations,” said Elgin Jones, founder and director of Kid's Kitchen. They are located at the Mountain View Community Center, Fairview Recreation Center and the Northeast Community Center in Muldoon.

Jones said he asked the University of Alaska Anchorage for help so students could “give back to the children. [The children] eventually become students so they're like mentors.” Kid's Kitchen serves between 200 to 300 children each day. Since 1996, Kid's Kitchen has served 225,000 meals to Anchorage children and are trying to reach the goal of 250,000 by the end of the year. Jones would like to see Kid's Kitchen expand to Seattle next.

Culinary students took on the Thanksgiving project, volunteering their own time. “We worked on it off and on between classes and everything else,” said Bernice Ivers, Culinary Club representative. The club and the department are often asked to volunteer.

“Anytime there's a dinner function, lots of us volunteer for it for experience,” Ivers said. “Volunteering helps with experience and helps with networking.” The students have also volunteered for the Celebrity Chef Invitational, the Anchorage Restaurant and Beverage Association and Providence Hospital dinners.

A typical Thanksgiving meal comprised the menu: turkey, yams, potatoes, gravy and pumpkin pie. “Everything they'd get with a traditional dinner,” Ivers said. There were rules to be followed, however.

“They have to eat all their vegetables before they can get dessert,” Jones said.