Renovating The Clearing Kitchen

The Clearing’s Pass the Hat Campaign is an annual fund-raising event for special projects at The Clearing. Beginning in 2009, this campaign has raised over $290,000! This has helped support many projects, including the renovation of historic buildings, restoring historic gardens and the construction of a new forge and metals studio.

2019: A NEW KITCHEN
The Clearing kitchen has been serving meals to guests for 77 years! This year’s campaign will focus on raising $375,000 for a complete kitchen renovation. Work is scheduled to begin this November and will finish in time for the 2020 summer season in early May.

So, once again, we’re Passing the Hat and inviting you to join our efforts to renovate this essential space by making a contribution, in whatever amount, to the new Clearing kitchen.

The Lodge, including the current kitchen space, was built in 1942 to serve a much smaller number of people than today. In Jensen’s time, he probably had only a handful of students here at a time. The number of Clearing students continued to grow under the direction of Mertha and the Wisconsin Farm Bureau. Today, with students and instructors combined, we usually have between 35 and 40—many more than the kitchen was originally built to serve.

In order to accommodate the growing number of guests, there have been many kitchen additions over the years—modern coolers and freezers, an ice machine, a commercial stove and oven, and a commercial dishwasher. And while all were welcome at the time, all these additions require valuable and limited floor space.

INTERNAL EXPANSION CREATES SPACE FOR A COMPLETE
UPGRADE IN COMMERCIAL EQUIPMENT

COMPLETE WORKFLOW OVERHAUL OFFERS NUMEROUS
TIME- & SPACE-SAVING OPPORTUNITIES

Your gift today is an investment in The Clearing’s continued food service excellence. Your enthusiastic support will provide our dedicated kitchen staff with a professional work environment to better serve our many students for many years to come!