PRFC Announces CALGRAM Kitchen & Food Lab as Long-Awaited Community Kitchen Nears Completion

DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine — After years of planning, fundraising, problem-solving and persistence, Piscataquis Regional Food Center (PRFC) is preparing to open the doors to its long-awaited community kitchen and food lab.

PRFC is pleased to announce that the new space will be named the CALGRAM Kitchen & Food Lab, honoring PRFC founders Erin Callaway and Steve Grammont, whose vision and commitment helped lay the foundation for the organization and its work throughout the region.

A formal naming ceremony and community celebration will be held in December, with additional details to be announced.

“This kitchen has been a long time coming, and seeing it finally take shape is incredibly exciting,” said Kelly Sirimoglu, Executive Director of PRFC. “We wanted its name to recognize where PRFC began while also reflecting where we are going. The CALGRAM Kitchen & Food Lab will be a place for cooking, learning, creating and nourishing, and we think that captures both the spirit of Erin and Steve’s original vision and the work PRFC is doing today.”

The project was made possible through federal funding secured with the assistance of U.S. Senator Angus King’s office and through the support and guidance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. PRFC also recognizes the significant work of its Board of Directors, whose leadership, oversight and persistence have helped move the project from an idea to a nearly completed community resource.

The CALGRAM Kitchen & Food Lab will expand PRFC’s ability to make better use of locally grown and donated foods, including seasonal produce that might otherwise go to waste. The space will allow PRFC to prepare, process and preserve foods for distribution through its programs while also creating new opportunities for nutrition education, cooking demonstrations, hands-on classes and community learning.

The “Food Lab” portion of the name is intentional. PRFC envisions the space not simply as a kitchen, but as a place to explore new ways of turning available food into nourishing, useful and accessible options for local families.

“This is about much more than installing equipment and opening a kitchen,” Sirimoglu said. “It gives us another tool to strengthen our local food system. We can take what is available here in Piscataquis County, find creative ways to use more of it, teach people what they can do with it, and ultimately get more nutritious food onto our neighbors’ tables.”

PRFC looks forward to welcoming partners, supporters and community members to the CALGRAM Kitchen & Food Lab Naming Ceremony in December and sharing more about the programs that will take place there.