Can you tell me about the first time you worked here?
I was a food service coordinator from 2011 to 2013. I worked with Andrew and for the most part it was us making meals for the downtown campus and family shelter.
Thinking about all the jobs I’ve had; it was probably top two with owning my own business. I really enjoyed working with the people, from the clients to the volunteers, and getting to work with the NLPs. It was great working and building relationships day in and day out with the community and providing service to those needing help.
It was fun to have a job with a big heart behind it. Some of my favorite memories are when we had a group of volunteers from a halfway house, coming out of corrections. They volunteered three or four days a week and I worked with them pretty regularly. When a couple of the guys got fully released from the halfway house, I was still in contact with them, and I helped one of them move and get settled. It was really transformative for me as a younger guy. It was really enjoyable and beautiful to have that relationship with people that came from such different backgrounds than myself.
Why did you decide to close your restaurant and return to the Tacoma Rescue Mission?
It was partly a decision for my family. I now have time and evenings and space to be with my kids as I go to school full time. I was also just feeling that I was ready to do something more community focused. We created community at the restaurant through food and atmosphere, and we consistently did our share of community events, but as I stepped away from the day-to-day operations, I realized I wanted to really invest in our city and people. Doing more than a charity dinner here and there.
What is your vision for the culinary arts program at the Mission?
My vision for the culinary arts program is creating a consistent avenue to train people and give them job skills. Building them up from knowing nothing to feeling realistically ready to step into an entry level job in a big production kitchen.
I want to create a training program focused on culinary arts, and then hopefully do catering to kind of use that as the mechanism to train people as far as production and experience.
Those are the firm parts of the plan. The other dream is, as it grows and becomes more consistent, that we create a standard of practices for the NLPs. So, we’re talking about an initial shorter training course to get them up to speed through all the kitchens. And then the bigger dream falls into having a food truck or brick and mortar where it’ll be stage one, basic training and job skills. That way we’re giving people concrete job skills, not just a training opportunity.
Why do you want to do this work?
Why? Since my wife and I started in the restaurant world, the dream was to end up with a teaching kitchen. A place for our community, where folks could get decent job skills on their path to becoming a professional chef. This is where the culinary program comes from, I just want to share my skills and share my passion for food and feeding people.
