The Purple Kitchen is a new and innovative food security program created by Lilliana Sanchez and the team at West Central Women’s Resource Centre, which is a United Way Winnipeg donor-supported agency partner.

The Purple Kitchen provides classes in basic culinary skills, healthy eating habits, and food handler certification for people facing multiple systemic barriers in their lives. This community learning program helps participants expand their knowledge, cook together, and share their lives while enabling them to identify ways to use food in practical and fun ways. The program offers cooking classes, healthy eating workshops, and certified food handling training, thereby improving the quality of life in the community.

Participants learn to transform common food bank items into affordable, nutritious meals and gain skills to reduce food waste, plan, and budget, making healthy eating more accessible. Since the Purple Kitchen began in February 2025, about 100 women have participated in the program, and more than 67 have proudly achieved certification as food handlers, while many others have also enjoyed the cooking classes.

Source: Teagan Rasche, Global News