New CHEER kitchen in Sussex ready to cater to seniors

By Glenn Rolfe
Posted 6/18/21

GEORGETOWN — It all begins this Monday morning — the modern era in CHEER’s mission to deliver nutrition to Sussex County seniors.

With three years of planning, fundraising and …

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New CHEER kitchen in Sussex ready to cater to seniors

Posted

GEORGETOWN — It all begins this Monday morning — the modern era in CHEER’s mission to deliver nutrition to Sussex County seniors.

With three years of planning, fundraising and construction complete, CHEER’s state-of-the-art Florence Mason Central Kitchen was dedicated Friday in a huge ribbon-cutting attended by local and state officials, CHEER staff and board members — and of course the now retired woman in whose honor the new facility is named.

“Thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to see and put to rest my dream. This has been my dream,” said Ms. Mason, whose 27-plus year tenure with CHEER ended on Christmas Day 2019. “I can now, thanks to the Board of Directors of CHEER and the CHEER family, finalize my retirement.”

“Florence Mason has been a staple of CHEER and our nutrition program for over 27 years,” said CHEER CEO Ken Bock. He added it “is only fitting and appropriate that we name this kitchen after a person who has given so much of their life, their heart and soul into the nutrition program.”

“When we were thinking about a name, there could only be one name, and that’s this dear lady … Ms. Florence Mason,” said Walter Koopman, CHEER board president.

Now part of CHEER’s Warren and Charles Allen Community Center on Sand Hill Road, the central kitchen totals 4,700 square feet. It includes a 2,700-square-foot new addition and 2,000 square feet of renovation.

It replaces the outdated, cramped commercial kitchen quarters at Thurman Adams State Service Center CHEER has utilized for decades.

The new kitchen is designed to adequately produce up to 2,625 meals daily for the growing and aging senior population throughout Sussex County.

Built in the 1980s, the kitchen in the State Service Center was designed to accommodate preparation of about 800 to 850 meals daily. It was last renovated in the 1990s although renovations did not increase the size of the kitchen and much of the equipment from the previous kitchen was reinstalled by the state.

“We worked with chewing gum, paper clips … to hold the equipment together. We had to start in production so many hours earlier because we didn’t have the capacity,” said Ms. Mason.

Approximately 1,500 meals will be prepared in the actual christening of the new kitchen, starting early on Monday, June 21. The daily amount fluctuates.

“We probably can come in a little bit later, and it won’t be anymore 1 o’clock, hopefully,” said CHEER kitchen manager Harry Cannon. “I think we can get a little bit more done with more space, timewise.”

“It is designed right now to do well over 2,000. The storage space and freezer, it is well over the capability of doing that,” said Mr. Cannon. “I’m really pleased. And it has been a long while.”

CHEER’s kitchen staff includes Mr. Cannon and three other fulltime employees.

The opening and dedication of the new kitchen comes as CHEER celebrates its 50th anniversary.

The new kitchen was made possible through generous support, spanning substantial sums of money from the state, county and other entities, to spare pocket change collected at CHEER centers and other locations.

“With all the challenges that COVID brought and everything else over the past year, things that nobody had thought about when we started this program, this kitchen at $1.9 million is being opened and dedicated today without one penny of debt,” said Mr. Bock. “To all of you, thank you. We thank you so very much. Because this will be the foundation for the nutrition program for seniors in Sussex County for the next 50 years.”

Mr. Bock made note of Ms. Mason’s dedication to CHEER and serving its senior clientele. “Forty hours a week, that wasn’t even a start,” Mr. Bock said.

“I appreciate everybody. I love the people. I love the seniors. I don’t want to see anybody go to bed hungry,” Ms. Mason said. “I went into homes of seniors that broke my heart, and then come back to Ken and say, ‘We’ve got to do something for this person.’”

“It is so fantastic to see the amount of support that we have gotten from our community for this new kitchen, which is going to turn around and serve our community so well,” said State Sen. Brian Pettyjohn. “It is a team effort to do these things. Without all of us working together, there is no way we could have accomplished this. And Florence, I know the passion that you always had for this and love that you have for the people that you serve. So, thank you so much.”

State Rep. Ruth Briggs King said Ms. Mason’s legacy at CHEER “will always live on. What started small has grown so large.”

Sussex County Councilman John Rieley remembers Ms. Mason during his days working with Sysco Foods.

“And I understand the food business enough to understand the miracle that they pulled off every day, preparing and getting these meals out the door with the facilities they had. They were so … inadequate. So, to enter this new era with a really operational kitchen it is just going to make everything so much better,” Mr. Rieley said. “We are happy to be part of that. I am happy to stand here and represent the council.”

“I may not be here physically, and I may not be in that kitchen, but my heart is here, and will always remain here,” Ms. Mason said. “I will always love CHEER. Thank you for the opportunity to serve the community of Sussex County and opportunity to work for an organization that cares. They care.”

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