A couple of weeks ago I had the good fortune to join chef Jody Adams at a benefit for an organization she has been involved with for a few years now, Future Chefs. The event was fashioned as a “Tour Around the World” where Future Chefs students cooked delicious treats from eight different countries, and served them to eager partygoers at stations placed throughout the beautiful Brookline home of the event’s hosts. If I could choose one word to describe both the event, and the Future Chefs students I had the pleasure of meeting that night, it would be…..Impressive.
Future Chefs is a privately-funded, school to career program working with high school culinary arts students in the Greater Boston area. The organization prepares motivated youth for quality early employment and post secondary educational opportunities in the culinary field.
The organization connects young people to resources such as, job opportunities, scholarships for post secondary training and mentorships. These opportunities are available to students who maintain their commitment to the Future Chefs program throughout their junior and senior years of high school. In these two years, students work to identify skills – both in the kitchen and in life – that need improvement. With adult and peer support, students find ways to meet the expectations and standards required to succeed in the field. Young participants develop a career plan and receive coaching through caring and supportive relationships with educators, staff and industry mentors, like chefs Jody Adams of Rialto and Chris Douglass of Ashmont Grill.
To a person, the members of the Future Chef team I met the other night were charming, outgoing, professional, and clearly enthusiastic about the program. Their food was delicious, their energy and passion for the program, contagious. What I found particularly interesting was the number of program alums that were part of the evening. What a testament to the quality of the organization that so many former students were willing to "give back" to a program that has meant so much to them, and done so much for them. As I said, this group is impressive.
I also had the opportunity to meet Future Chefs’ founder and Executive Director Toni Elka, an energetic, talented and passionate soul. Toni, who from 2004-2007, directed the Anthony Spinazzola Foundation’s Culinary Apprentice Program, understands that life after high school is a risky time for students without a safety net, a plan and adult support and coaching. When the Spinazzola Foundation closed its doors in August of 2007, Toni worked to secure private funding in the form of a one-time grant from the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation, set out to continue her great work with kids, and Future Chefs was born.
I was so taken with the Future Chefs team I met the other night that I am looking for any and all opportunities I can find to support their great work. While the Fireman Foundation grant was a generous donation that served to launch the organization, the ongoing financial support of individual and corporate patrons is absolutely essential to the continued success of Future Chefs. I would encourage you all to click Future Chefs to learn more about the organization, and discover ways that you too can support their mission. Those of you in the Boston area can learn more about them in person by attending their next fund raising event "Eat Your Heart Out" which is being held at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club on Sunday, November 14th. Check it out by clicking the photo below, and I’ll see you there!
Cheers and thanks! – Steve
