Test Kitchen in midst of sustaining campaign

FORT MADISON – The YMCA Test Kitchen is launching several new events to help generate revenue for operations at the downtown Fort Madison facility aimed at food-centric education programming.
Kaleb Wischmeier, Director of the Test Kitchen, said funding to support programs has waned in the past several years and new ideas were generated as part of operational funding efforts.
One of the newest events is a free Summer Block Party that will take place on July 11th on Avenue G. The event has free entry and participation and will feature local vendors, games, raffles, gift baskets, BINGO in the Stem Lounge, and of course food.
“We just wanted to make this a fun and free event for everyone. There will be an opportunity for freewill donations to the program, but this is a chance for everyone to just come together for a fun evening,” Wischmeier said.
He has also created a hot dog wagon that the Test Kitchen has been bringing to local events including this month’s Summer Market and the farmer’s markets now at the historic depot. The wagon, called YTK Dawgz, features a full all-beef hot dog bar and will be at the block party. Wischmeier said he’s working on bringing in additional food trucks for the event as well.
Current programming at the center takes place Monday through Thursday during the school year, and summer camps when students are off between grades.
“We were going to do something like this last year, but a change in leadership made it not the right time,” he said. “This year is really like celebrating more than 10 years of the Test Kitchen. We’ll have the block closed. We’ll have Fields of Fun here, which is an organization that will bring a bounce house, yard activities, mini golf, and other fun activities.”
He said Toddy Pop will also be on hand doing balloon twisting. Tenielle Speer will be handling the BINGO, the Fort Madison Area Arts Association will be doing a sidewalk chalk art competition, and former STEM Lounge music instructor Hailey Ramatowski, will be performing to highlight a full slate of music for participants.
He said any other businesses in the town that would like to be involved in the way of participation or donations to raffle prizes will be recognized and appreciated.
“We just want to make sure this is a fun event for kids, and for parents, too. I’m excited about it. The city has waived all the event fees and is sponsoring the event,” Wischmeier said.
“I’m also hoping we can raise a chunk of money for our sustaining campaign.”
The center operates solely on donations and grants and has an annual budget of about $130,000, including supplies, programming, facility costs, and payroll. The Test Kitchen used to have a foundation when it was the Elliott Test Kitchen, and that group coordinated grants and fundraising efforts. Now, the YMCA board has oversight of operations and programming. The goal of this year’s campaign is $150,000 to provide some room for growth, Wischmeier said.
“We’re always working on our sustaining campaign where we reach out to organizations around the area and provide information about what we do and how much donations help our programs,” he said.
“That’s one of our biggest things and we’re in the middle of that now. We still send out letters, which might be old-fashioned but something we still do.”

The sustaining campaign is separate from the YMCA campaigns and the Test Kitchen handles their own revenue generation.
He said the facility is blessed to be in the YMCA organization and benefits from that organizational status.
In his first year as director, Wischmeier didn’t want to shake things up too much and continued with programming including Monday Mash-up during the school year, which focused on different educational topics, including history and geography. He also added fitness as a result of the partnership with the YMCA. There’s no charge for the students for regular school year programming. Summer camps do have a $50 registration fee.
The facility also had a partnership with Junior Achievement and had a six-week program that included students from Central Lee, who hadn’t had prior exposure to J.A. programming.
Tuesday and Wednesdays have been cooking days at the center. "Tuesdays we do cooking lessons with the kids. They sign up at the beginning of the year, and they come in throughout the school year aligned with the Fort Madison Community School District’s calendar," Wischmeier said.
“It starts with some basic stuff, but then toward the end of the year we move into more advanced things. It’s great to see the growth they had in their abilities to cook. The focus is on education because feeding the kids is a cornerstone of what we do. And it assures them a good meal before they go home and I think that takes pressure of some parents.” 
Another unique event the facility is doing is the YTK Café. This will be a series of lunches provided for the general public at the center from July 13-16th, 20th, 21st, 23rd and 24th.
Students will help prepare and serve a limited priced menu to the public.
“This is a smaller group of kids helping us operate almost like a restaurant. They will do some front of the house waiting on guests, filling waters, and then others in the back will be helping cook orders, plate orders, do dishes and that stuff,” he said.
He said the reason for that is that most of the really successfully programs at the Test Kitchenare around food and that’s where students get most excited around the programs.
“This is for the general public to show that we make good food quality stuff here and we’re excited to share that with others. And with the drop-off in donations we need to find ways to be more self-sustainable through our food program. This is a perfect opportunity to do both and make some revenue off what we do.”
Hours for the lunches, again open to the public, will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on each day.
Those interested in more information about donating to the non-profit can reach out to the Test Kitchen directly to Wischmeier at kaleb.wischmeier@fortmadisony.org or 319-250-9052, or at the YMCA at 319-372-2403.