Monday 7 October 2013

Fun with Public Health and Reupholstering

Hello again from The Minga!

The last week has been rather busy for a number of very positive reasons, one of course being the beginning of another DREAM season.

We managed to get all the beautiful chairs donated by Bohemian Friday's Dick and Lisa Passmore completely redone - we touched up the paint and gave them a fresh new upholstering. You'll have to wait and see what colors we chose though.

Other construction successes have included more electrical outlets being installed, the chalk boards and menu boards are being created and are almost done and we should have our countertops installed within the next day or so - so we'll be ready to serve any day!

In the meantime, we had our first site visit from our local Public Health Inspector last Tuesday. Although the place was a bit of a construction mess, he was able to help show us some key areas to focus on before our actual inspection. This visit was a great refresher as staff and volunteers had to take the Food Handler's Certification Course the following day.

Wednesday morning five Minga staff and volunteers attended the course, some have heard good news already but we expect all of those who completed the test to pass. If you are interested and would like help getting your food handlers certificate, please contact us. There's a class coming up in November!

Other than that, Minga staff met with Jennifer Vo of The Sachem in order to discuss The Minga's involvement with this year's River Arts Festival Culinary Night. We were very excited to share the news since the theme of the event will be local organic food! We can't wait to showcase how delicious healthy food can be, and if you want to join us tickets are on sale Oct. 15. Visit www.riverartsfestival.ca for more details.

Looking forward to this week, we are expecting the place the start falling together, and a lot of cleaning ahead. Once our countertops are installed we have a functional kitchen and can start stocking shelves, setting up equipment and getting ready to open our doors. Just one more health inspection to go!

Can't wait to see you all at The Minga!