Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Feed The Region and Chef Steph?
Feed the Region is a project sponsored by Chef Steph that offers free meals to the Community Members of Northwest Indiana. The mission of Feed the Region is to end food insecurity in Northwest Indiana. We rely on community involvement, inviting our neighbors to contribute ingredients and to join us to cook and serve those who could use a hot meal made with love.
Chef Steph is a retail entity whose products support Feed the Region financially whenever donations fall short.
Chef Steph (the person) is a family-trained scratch kitchen chef who uses classic comfort recipes and unique flavor profiles to create fresh and frozen dishes to be enjoyed in your own home. Each retail product supports the mission of Feed the Region.
Products can be pre-ordered in the Shop. At this time, all products are pick-up only and can not be shipped or delivered.
Both Chef Steph and Feed The Region operate inside Nana Clare’s Kitchen. Owned by Chris Pavlou and founded and managed by Gina Zieniewicz, this NWI restaurant industry staple has been helping The Region realize it’s food dreams for decades. This kitchen is located at 3907 Calumet Ave #106, Valparaiso, IN 46383
How do I get started volunteering with Feed the Region?
Please attend our Volunteer Orientation Event on January 29th at 6pm. The in-person event will be at Nana Clare’s in Valparaiso where you’ll learn about how your unique talents can support the mission. The in-person volunteer orientation will end in a meal shared with your new team members.
Those attending the virtual event will Zoom in for the Mission, Roles, and Question & Answer part of the Orientation meeting. For anyone who can not attend, this part of the meeting will be recorded.
We welcome volunteers of all ages but please know that you will be responsible for the care of any child brought under the age of 18. Before bringing your children to a live event, please consider whether their current temperament will allow them to sit through a 2 hour event. Sometimes our littles are not quite ready for kitchen work, but will do amazing things with their other talents. If this statement matches the energy of your little one, please attend one of our virtual 20-minute Littles Volunteer Orientation or Big Kids Volunteer Orientation.
Have a small amount of time to dedicate? Please check out how you can make a big impact volunteering off-site.
How can I donate?
Great Question! You can donate in the following three ways:
Donate Ingredients: donate un-opened, un-expired, shelf-stable ingredients listed on the page for This Week’s Meal. Schedule a drop off of your items. Want to get involved a little more? Click here to Become a Drop Off Center and collect ingredients from your neighbors and friends to be picked up by Chef Steph’s Team.
Donate Funds: You can donate funds each week to support Feed The Region. Allocate whether those funds go to purchasing ingredients, packaging, or to an open fund for emergencies or fundraising events. Each week, you can join a meeting seeing how much money the community has raised and where each dollar went to support this week’s meal.
Donate Your Time: Whether you have 5 minutes one time or 5 hours every week to pitch in, there is a spot for you! Please visit our Volunteer Page to learn more.
Why do we cap financial donations at $100 per person per week?
The success of Feed The Region will be in its longevity. Until the program is no longer needed, we will need continued funding to assist our neighbors each week.
Feed the Region will use all funding allocated to that week’s meal for the scheduled event to make sure that every dollar generously donated by the community is seen immediately impacting The Region in a positive way.
For that reason, we ask that you keep your donations small and consistent for the largest impact on your community.
At this time, we are not a registered non-profit and your donations are not tax-deductible.
Where’s the meat?
As a life-long vegetarian herself, Chef Steph knows that you don’t sacrifice flavor or nutrition with a vegetarian dish, but it sure does help the price!
To stretch the donations as far as they can each week, and to focus on whole nutrient dense ingredients, each meal served at Feed The Region will be meat-free. However, the meals are not Vegan and will sometimes use dairy and eggs.
Each retail food made by Chef Steph will also be vegetarian, but may include dairy and/or eggs.
What about allergies?
All allergens and ingredients for each meal will be disclosed on the label.
The main meal may include: Wheat (gluten), Soy, Sesame, Milk, Eggs, Tree Nuts, or Peanuts.
Please inform our volunteers upon pick up of Feed The Region meals if you have any special dietary concerns and every effort will be made to accommodate them.
Please note that we operate in a shared facility that may also process Wheat (gluten), Tree Nuts, Peanuts, Milk, Eggs, Shellfish, Soy, and Sesame. For this reason, we will never be able to say our products or meals are fully free from food allergens.