Each tiny seed planted becomes a tree that nourishes us all.
ROCKStar Chef Shines
Our first volunteer Head Chef, Jessie Morden of Town Council, shone at ROCKS’ most recent dinner on December 8th. Having once run the WCSS lunch program Jessie was a natural leader in the kitchen–that perfect blend of chill and energized. It was a super fun night for both Jessie and the volunteers working alongside her. The chicken enchiladas triggered long rounds of applause. In answer to all the requests for Jessie’s recipe, here it is, alongside some of our other recipes.
The adrenaline high of cooking for 100 having worn off, Jessie still wants to do it all again. “Being able to cook for Whistler ROCKS reminded me that food has the power to bring people together. It was an honour to support the program by creating meals that felt comforting, energizing, and made with care.”
Call for Volunteer Head Chefs
Interested in joining our lineup of guest chefs? We still need volunteer head chefs for the following dates: Feb 9 and 23, Mar 9 and 30, Apr 13 and 27, May 11 and 25. Reach out to us and we’ll give you a breakdown of how it all works. The time commitment is approximately 2 hours beforehand and a 5 hour shift on the night.
December 8 Meal Summary
At our last event we served 74 people, down from last event’s 112, likely because of the torrential rain. About 20 people had seconds or went home with leftovers, so nothing went to waste.
Our switch to 2 seatings–one at 6:00 and one at 7:00— worked well to manage the flow of our guests. The majority of our guests heard about us from their friends or word of mouth, plus many from WCSS, who do a great job sharing our program.
24 ROCKStars made the event happen, who were so efficient in setting up, many of us were able to share a meal before the first guests arrived.The event would have cost around $1,500, including operational overheads, but with generous community contributions from Moguls, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Laughing Crow Organics, WMSC, Slope Side Supply, and our good friends at Whistler Cooks, it cost only around $1,000. Then we had $575 in donations. So overall, we spent $473 against our budget of $1,000 per evening ($10 per meal). We also had a very generous donation of four chafing dishes, which goes a long way to helping us becoming self-sufficient.
Twas The Night Before Christmas…..
Our next event is Christmas Eve, December 24 and we hope to send many home with full bellies – our menu is BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, maple roasted squash, brussels sprouts, kale apple coleslaw, apple cranberry relish, cheesecake and cookies. We’re also planning a craft for kids.
Note that on Christmas Eve we’ll have one seating only with service starting at 4:00 pm instead of 6:00. Reserve your spot here, so we can best prepare for you. Volunteer spots are going fast for this special night. Sign up here to volunteer or jump straight into the Vome app. We’ll be having a little volunteer appreciation party afterwards around 6pm, after guests have left. The invitation is extended to ALL those who have supported us throughout the year, please rsvp to us at whistler.recreate@gmail.com if you plan on attending our modest appreciation event. We know this is a very busy night for many people, but if you want to come and enjoy some time with our ROCKStar Family, you are more than welcome.
What a Christmas Gift!
Celebrating the season of giving through their Gift of Giving campaign, Whistler’s local credit union BlueShore Financial (a division of Beem Credit Union) has selected Whistler ROCKS to receive a donation of $1,500. Emailing us the good news, General Manager Gregg Martin said, “We’ve heard lots of great things about Whistler ROCKS and your efforts in the community. Your mission of creating a safe, welcoming space for Whistler-ites of all walks of life and create connection fits exactly with Beem’s values and we’d be honoured to support those efforts.”
It’s hard to express just how much this means to us as a startup charity. It’s not so long ago that Whistler ROCKS was almost unknown and we’re truly thrilled by this recognition. We’re honoured to have been chosen and will put these funds towards our December 24th meal.
Our thanks to Gregg and all the folks at BlueShore for your support in strengthening our community.
Call for Additional Sponsors
For businesses wishing to support Whistler ROCKS, sponsoring a dinner is a great option, with every dollar going toward hot, nutritious meals for locals facing financial hardship. We currently have enough funds for our next 8 or so meals, so are always planning ahead.
There are two ways to sponsor: by funding a dinner to cover food and supplies, or—for restaurants, catering companies, grocers, or wholesalers—by donating food and supplies directly. To find out more, email us at whistler.recreate@gmail.com for an information package.
So What Will 2026 Bring?
We are confident that 2026 will bring us wonderful things! Look out for the next edition of the Pique, where we are sharing our gratitude to all those that have supported us in 2025. Please check out our Thanks page, that has who, when and how everyone has supported us.
We have also formally applied to seek the support of the RMOW in finding us a long term space. We’ll be making a brief presentation to Town Council early in the new year and will reach out once we get the date finalized to ask for your moral and in person support.
The flurry of positive developments has made this an especially long newsletter, so a special thanks for reading this far. Our next newsletter will be just after our January 19th meal, so if we don’t see you on Christmas Eve, have the happiest of holidays! Follow us on @whistler_rocks instagram or Facebook to keep updated until then.
The Whistler ROCKS team