During The Great PBC-HelloFresh Cook Off, students team up to plan, cook, and present their own dishes.
Every summer, the Princeton-Blairstown Center (PBC) welcomes students from historically marginalized communities for a week of outdoor adventure, leadership development, and personal growth. Through hiking, swimming, canoeing, and high ropes courses, participants build social-emotional skills that prepare them to lead in their schools and communities.
For the past three years, HelloFresh has joined that journey with The Great PBC-HelloFresh Cook Off, a tradition where teamwork, creativity, and confidence come together in the kitchen. Using HelloFresh meal kits, students collaborate to plan, prepare, and present a dish to PBC’s panel of judges, gaining not just cooking know-how but also pride in what they can accomplish together.
This summer, we spoke with PBC staff about how these shared meals strengthen bonds, inspire new skills, and create memories they’ll carry far beyond camp.
HelloFresh: Can you briefly share the mission of Princeton-Blairstown Center and how the Summer Bridge Program supports that mission?
Princeton-Blairstown Center: The Princeton-Blairstown Center is an outdoor education center that serves young people by nurturing their social-emotional skills through experiential, environmental, and adventure-based programming. Developing these skills enables our participants to engage in self-discovery and transform their communities to create a more just world.
Summer Bridge is a one-week leadership and academic enrichment program that provides equitable access to transformative outdoor experiences for youth and is offered to our program partners completely free of charge. With students and their chaperones staying for a week at a time, staff and participants really get to know each other well and create meaningful shared experiences that spur individual and group growth.
HF: Can you share how long you’ve been doing this partnership with HelloFresh—what made you want to continue the collaboration, and how has it evolved over the years?
PBC: The HelloFresh collaboration came about through our wonderful board member, Suman Rao in 2022. When we realized all the ways that cooking a meal together challenged our students—they had to really collaborate, strategize, and execute their plan together to achieve their goals—it was a lightbulb moment. We intentionally chose to use the HelloFresh cookoff as a culminating activity at the end of each week to challenge, strengthen, and reinforce all the things the students have learned throughout their time with our facilitators and staff.
Students prepare for The Great PBC-HelloFresh Cook Off.
HF: How do the cooking activities, like using HelloFresh meal kits and participating in cook-offs, fit into your goals around skill-building and confidence for the kids?
PBC: Our Great PBC-Hello Fresh Cook Off is held as our culminating community event on Friday afternoons and gives our participants the opportunity to use self-awareness, relationship, and responsible decision-making skills. This event helps participants expand their confidence by cooking a delicious meal with their friends, as well as refine and reinforce their social-emotional skills that they will bring back to their homes, schools, and communities.
HF: What’s a moment from this summer’s program that really stood out to you?
PBC: Watching our Leader-in-Training participants step up during our HelloFresh activity is a highlight – we’ve been watching them grow in skills and confidence each Friday and are always amazed at how much growth can be achieved, even week to week, when young people are challenged, supported, and encouraged. Cooking and sharing a meal with others definitely strengthens (and sometimes tests!) interpersonal bonds, with the added benefit of building relationships alongside practical hands-on skills.
HF: How do you think access to nourishing, hands-on food education affects young people in both the short and long term?
PBC: In the short term, I think it helps students see that you don’t need a kitchen full of gadgets, expensive tools, or tons of time or ingredients to make a delicious, satisfying meal. Longer term, I hope they recognize that they already have all the skills inside themselves to care for themselves and others in this way – the confidence to prepare nourishing meals to fuel strong minds and bodies is something we hope everyone takes away from the experience.
HF: What feedback have you received from the kids this year? Any memorable reactions to cooking, learning, or eating together?
PBC: The Great PBC-Hello Fresh Cook Off has been extremely well received by our participants, as they take great pride in the taste and quality of their meals, and are especially engaged during the presentation portion of the event. Participants, just like in a competitive cooking show, share their signature dish with our PBC judges!
The Great PBC–HelloFresh Cook Off is more than a fun competition; it’s a creative catalyst for personal growth and development. Students leave with new confidence, practical skills, and a sense of pride in what they can create, both in and out of the kitchen.
As one chaperone put it, “I saw the pride on their faces when they were presenting their plates to the judges, and I know they all benefited from the experience.”
We’re thrilled to be a part of such an important summer experience, where our partnership with Princeton Blairstown helps students to not only build connections, but also gives them the confidence to believe in their own potential.
Explore the Princeton-Blairstown Center’s mission and programs at princetonblairstown.org or read last year’s HelloFresh feature on their Summer Bridge Program here.
We’re proud to partner with the PBC in a summer experience that builds connections and inspires students to believe in their own potential.
