Virginia Peninsula Foodbank not only provides food to those in need in the community, but for 10 years it has also been helping people start careers in the food service industry through a culinary training program. The 12-week program helps eligible adults develop both kitchen skills as well as life and leadership skills that will equip them to start meaningful careers.
The program, now in its 10th year, began after Nutrition Programs Director Jacquelyn Linder saw a similar program at a food bank in Cincinnati. “I was going to look at another program, which was related to child nutrition, but once I got there, I saw this marvelous program that created opportunities for people in communities who were unemployed or underemployed, to get real life hands-on skills in culinary,” she explained.
The program brings students into a full commercial kitchen to train under the leadership of an experienced professional chef. Students prepare meals each day for the Kids Cafe Program as part of their hands-on training. The Kids Cafe Program currently serves meals at schools, YMCAs, community centers and faith based organizations. When the pandemic started and many schools switched to virtual learning, the culinary program adapted their meals to a grab-and-go model.
“We still are able to provide barbecue chicken, baked chicken, or spaghetti with meat sauce. We may have hamburgers or chicken patties. The kids can take it home, reheat it and have a well-balanced, nutritious meal,” Linder said.
The program is open to students who meet certain criteria, including being economically disadvantaged. They must also adhere to the strict program guidelines.
“It's a very rigorous program to teach job training on a high level, where people understand the responsibility of work and having good work ethics upon departing the program,” Linder said. “It requires a lot of discipline.“
LaKeshia Whitehurst, a graduate of the program, said each day began with instructors ensuring students were on time and dressed appropriately for work.
“We started out with an inspection, making sure that we had our hair up, and no nail polish. Making sure we were neat and clean, from head to toe. Then we would go in and we would prepare the meals for the children,” she explained.
Though she already cooked at home, and especially enjoyed baking, Whitehurst said the program greatly expanded her culinary knowledge by introducing her to knife skills, making sauces from scratch, and learning about seasonings.
After graduation, she landed a job as the cook at a childcare center. It’s a bit ironic, she explained, because she wasn’t sure she wanted a job in the culinary industry. She had previously worked in an administrative role in financial services. But once she began the new role, she was hooked.
“My previous job was unrewarding,” she said. “Now, I'm not doing a whole lot, but still I feel I'm providing a service to someone by taking care of getting the children fed.”
Her love of baking also inspired her to write a children’s book. The idea for Wally’s Dream was born in her kitchen after she asked her husband for a “cup” of an ingredient and he began using a regular drinking cup instead of a measuring cup. “I thought, ‘Okay, for someone who didn't know how to bake, what types of things would they do?'“ she explained. This led to her creating adventures for Wally the Giraffe and publishing them.
Before completing the program, she said she didn’t realize the variety of jobs available in culinary arts. “There's lot of career opportunities out there that I wasn't even aware of in the food industry. It's just a matter of finding your niche, finding where you fit,” she said.
The program also helped graduate Delvin Moore find his career niche. In fact, he said the program completely changed his life. He said he had a history of being in trouble with the law and was in trouble once again when a friend told him about the program.
“I knew that I can cook, and I knew that I was in trouble and that I basically I needed a life change,” Moore explained.
Though he initially pursued the program in the hopes it would help reduce a court sentence, he said he found much more through the training—which he described as “bootcamp” and said was quite rigorous.
“Our chef at the time, Chef Kecia, was retired military, so that's why I say bootcamp,” he said. ”We prepared 5,000 meals weekly, so on a daily basis, we had a menu that we had to go by and we all worked together to get it done.“
In addition to learning kitchen skills and earning his ServSafe Manager Certification, he said the program also taught him discipline and leadership skills. “It was making sure you're doing what you're supposed to be doing in the program to get the tools that I needed for what I'm doing now.”
And what he’s doing now spans several avenues in the culinary world. After graduation, he worked in a soul food restaurant for several years and then moved on to Pho 79 where he worked his way up to sous-chef. Now he is the production chef at Centerplace, located in the Virginia Beach Convention Center that handles mostly banquets. He also has started his own company, Savor of Elegance, in which he works as a personal chef.
“Since I left the foodbank, I'm not getting into trouble anymore and I'm elevating my career,” he said. “It was challenging, but it was well worth it.”
He also recently celebrated his seventh year of sobriety, which was a decision he made as a result of the program motivating him to seek a better life for himself.
“I was on a path to destruction, and ever since I changed my life, ever since I stopped drinking alcohol, it's been nothing but success,” he said. “That program helped me to change my life, and I can't give enough credit. It provides you with management skills, time management skills, leadership skills, and if you work it, it'll benefit you very much.”
Learn more about the culinary training program and find eligibility requirements and an application on their website.
If you’d like to learn more about how to get started in a skilled career, read about local training partners and apprenticeship programs on our Resources page.