The Carbondale Warming Center has a kitchen in their future, with a lot of help from major grants, but also with a little help from area cooks at a Cookbook Swap Meet, to be held Saturday, June 4 at the Carbondale Farmers Market. (Raindate is June 11.)

Confluence Books is hosting the Swap Meet, which will run from 8 am to 12 pm. Tables will be set up for people to bring cookbooks that they want to pass on to others, and to peruse and choose from the cookbooks that others have brought. Freewill donations will be accepted, with all proceeds going directly to the Warming Center.

Currently, the Warming Center is not equipped to prepare food on site, but staff and volunteers cook at home for the Center. Dozens of clients are fed on a daily basis, using disposable plates and utensils. A new kitchen will allow them to prepare food on site and serve it with reusable dishes. They have applied for ARPA funding through a grant from the City.

Books that remain at the end of the swap meet will be cleared out by Confluence Books. Some will be donated to United Way's Summer Reading & Activity Program. Others may be recycled or given away, return to the Farmers Market as one-dollar books, or go on the shelves at the bookstore. Watch for a "Free" table in front of the bookstore, at 705 W Main Street after the Swap Meet.

For more information about Confluence Books or the Cookbook Swap Meet, contact confluencebooks@gmail.com.

For more information about the Warming Center, contact Carmalita Cahill at warmth.welcome@gmail.com or call 314-312-2539.