ROCHELLE — On Thursday, Sept. 26, Rochelle Community Hospital hosted its annual cookout for employees and the community. The event is in its third year and is hosted by RCH’s Food and Nutrition department. 

Offerings included burgers, footlong hot dogs, polish sausages, ribs, veggie burgers, mac and cheese, coleslaw, loaded potato salad, and brownie or banana sundaes.

“This is our annual event for our employees and the community to come out and have lunch,” RCH Food and Nutrition Manager Ross Pullom said. “We grill for them and we have sides and dessert. It's a good price. It's a way to say thank you to our employees and the community for supporting us all year.”

Pullom said the event takes a lot of preparation and has gotten larger each year. RCH wants to provide tasty, nutritious food to the community, more than just its employees and patients. The RCH Food and Nutrition department offers a catering service and opens its cafeteria to the public for lunch and dinner. It also has hosted a farmer’s market in the past and offers nutrition initiatives for employees. 

“We like doing outreach to the community,” Pullom said. “A lot of people in the local community come here for lunch and dinner. People in the apartments across the street come here for lunch and dinner a lot. It's convenient and quick for them and it's good quality food at a good price. We do things like this because we're a community-involved hospital. We want the community involved with what we do here. Healthcare is of course our priority for our patients, but we also want to provide different services for the community.”