A Program that is Rewarding in Itself

Yesterday a girlfriend and fellow chef, Melissa and I attended the City Harvest Sizzling Summer Garden Party to celebrate all fellow volunteers.

If you are not familiar with City Harvest, it is a large non profit that helps feed and educate America about forming healthy eating lifestyles. There are various programs within City Harvest. The one that I am closely connected to involves serving as a chef instructor, moreover the In the Mix program which teaches hands-on culinary and pastry cooking lessons to high school students (in my case from the Food & Finance School in NYC) who are interested and passionate about pursuing a cooking profession. There are numerous programs that exist, those that teach young children, the elderly, families, those that provide demos in convenient stores etc, but the underlying purpose is to spread the importance of eating healthy, fresh, and local ingredients rather than succumbing to the fast food chains and other unhealthy or empty nutritional value foods that exist among us.

It was an honor to be invited to celebrate our work, but moreover the work and success of the program. We each were given an award to commemorate our actions. While this was wonderful, the real reward was being among other instrumental chefs, nutritionists and volunteers who are all equally passionate about cooking, but more importantly, about making a difference in teaching people how to make the most of the ingredients available in their communities regardless to education or income.

So my award above is not only for me, but for the lives I may have impacted and the many more I hope to reach.

Thank you Nancy for making your beautiful garden available and for Aliyah and all the main coordinators for reaching out and welcoming us.

To many more years or making an impact!