Oak Forest HS Culinary Students Prepare Muffins for Homeless

Oak Forest High School Senior Gabe Rodriguez pulls out blueberry muffins from the hot oven in his Baking Basics class. The Oak Forest High School Culinary Arts students got a chance to bake treats for families less fortunate when they prepared cornbread muffins, blueberry muffins, and brownies for churches that host the P.A.D.S. program in the Palos and Hodgkin locations.

This is the second year that the OFHS Culinary Arts program has donated muffins to this program. Last year, Oak Forest High School teachers Vicky Vogel and Mark Furstenau decided to bake muffins for the homeless to get away from what had always been done at the school. Traditionally, the culinary arts classes have whipped up a whole Thanksgiving feast which the class members consume with great glee. The former Thanksgiving dinner involved turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie.

This year, the teachers decided to try something that focused students on others not as fortunate as themselves. We wanted to try something “simple and humble,” said Vicky Vogel.

The cold struck quickly in November and the teachers wanted to donate something that would be easy to transport to the P.A.D.S. shelter. Vogel, who thought of the idea because of seeing the families emerge from the Palos shelter and because she volunteers, thought that the easy recipes and the easy transportation of foods would be great. Mark Furstenau agreed. The homeless families could easily take a muffin for the road to provide sustenance later on in the day.

The P.A.D.S. program that the Oak Forest High School culinary program donates muffins to provides beds and food to homeless families who need their assistance. Churches in the area rotate opening up and providing food, bed and shelter during the cold wintertime months. To donate or volunteer time for the Southwest Suburban PADS organization, please see the website: http://www.sspads.org/.