Get Involved
There are many ways you can contribute to Sanctuary Kitchen! By going beyond the headlines and creating opportunities for meaningful encounters through food, Sanctuary Kitchen aims to remove misconceptions and improve cultural understanding, mutual appreciation, and build a stronger sense of community.
Sanctuary Kitchen builds diverse community in New Haven by using the collective resources of our city — our restaurateurs and caterers, our farmers and food suppliers, our long-time residents and local students passing through — to help our new neighbors build lives here through economic empowerment, professional development, growth in leadership, or building their own food businesses.
Join Sanctuary Kitchen as a Volunteer
Volunteers work closely with the Sanctuary Kitchen Team and Chefs across our program. Their generosity, enthusiasm and support help to make all of our endeavors a success! New Haven community members volunteered more than 1,000 hours at Sanctuary Kitchen every year. Many of our volunteers are international students or immigrants, bringing their own cultures and backgrounds to the kitchen.
Responsibilities vary, but may include assisting the Chefs in the kitchen, food preparation, selling products at Farmers Markets, providing transportation, translation and interpretation, and more.
If you are interested, please click on the button below to complete the volunteer form, and our Volunteer Coordinator will get in touch with you.
Intern With Sanctuary Kitchen
Interns are a valuable part of the Sanctuary Kitchen team and play a critical role in helping us achieve our mission.
Available internships include: Culinary Operations Intern, Marketing Intern, Operations Intern, and Sales & Outreach Intern.
Sanctuary Kitchen is happy to work with your college or course instructors to fulfill credit or course requirements.
Join Sanctuary Kitchen as an Interpreter
Sanctuary Kitchen is in need of interpreters who speak Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Pashto, Dari, French, Spanish, or Swahili. Volunteers would assist with refugee communication and interpretation in the kitchen or at events. This is an integral role for our volunteer team! If interested in joining as an interpreter, please complete our volunteer form, and our Team will get in touch with you.
Become a Collaborator
Sanctuary Kitchen collaborates with other organizations, institutions, and community groups in a variety of ways to serve our community.
Below are some of our frequent collaborators:
New Haven Adult Education
The Yale Peabody Museum
The International Festival of Arts & IdeasIntegrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS)
International Association of New Haven (IANH)
Jewish Community Alliance for Refugee
Resettlement (JCARR)
Chabaso and Atticus Bookstore Cafe
New Haven Free Public Libraries
Spring Glen Alliance for Refugee Resettlement (SGARR)
Students of Salaam (SOS) at Yale
The Ludwig Center for Community & Economic
Development (CED) at Yale Law School
Yale Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS)
Ways you can collaborate:
- Offering professional development and training opportunities for our refugee chefs, particularly around aspects of culinary skills, food safety, and entrepreneurship.
- Sharing of resources – in-kind offers of support such as venues, printing, administration, recruitment and preparation of participants, transport and interpreting services.
- Providing opportunities for Sanctuary Kitchen to learn more deeply about the issues affecting communities and how we can work together with people at the grass-roots to create transformative change.
- Becoming an employer partner or professional mentor for graduates of our Culinary Training Program.
If you would like to collaborate with us, email naseema@cityseed.org
