Our history
A
new state of the art commercial kitchen was idle after 1 p.m. each day. Thousands of pounds of fresh
produce were going to waste. Homeless shelters and soup
kitchens needed to cook nutritious meals for residents.
Individuals needed training for good jobs.
These are the circumstances that came together to create the Community Culinary School of Charlotte.
Friendship Trays, a home delivery meal program for the elderly, ill and disabled, owned a commercial kitchen. This kitchen, built in space donated by Bruce Parker and equipped by community efforts, was busy in the morning hours but not used in the afternoons. Friendship Trays was looking for ways the kitchen could be used while benefiting the community.
In a model collaborative partnership, Friendship Trays, the Society of St. Andrew and the Community Culinary School of Charlotte joined forces.
The three separate agencies, now housed in one building, effectively address hunger issues by working together.
The Society's gleaners visit local farms, where they salvage fresh produce that would otherwise be discarded. The Society also accepts truckload shipments of food that is in good condition but does not, for example, meet a merchant's size requirements. The rescued food is used in Culinary School training. And, as appropriate, it is cycled into Friendship Trays menus. The remainder is shared with other hunger-fighting agencies.
The Culinary School's role is to reach out to persons who have experienced barriers to employment and train them for jobs – or better-paying jobs – in the local culinary industry. Three classes of aspiring culinarians are enrolled each year. Students receive 12 to 14 weeks of education in professional food preparation, sanitation, vegetable gardening and composting, work ethic and job search skills.
Culinary School students do part of their training in the shared Distribution Street kitchen as Friendship Trays prepares roughly 700 meals each weekday. There they put food handling techniques into practice, develop a strong work ethic, and experience exactly what it's like to be employed in a large industrial kitchen.
Rescuing food. Rescuing neighbors from unemployment and underemployment. Rescuing homebound and ailing neighbors from hunger or unhealthful diets. It's been nicknamed the "Nutrition Coalition," and it has won the support of the public and area funders.
Founded in 1997, the Community Culinary School of Charlotte has grown from a one-room section of unfinished warehouse space with two students to a space with five offices and a dedicated classroom serving each class of culinarians in training. Classes regularly begin with 25 students. Graduating classes usually number about 18.
Through April, 2010, more than 680 at-risk adults had completed the program.
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Pictured above: Founding Executive Chef and Director Linda Vogler.