January 11, 2017
Culinary student: ‘This is a big opportunity!’
By Gwen Guerke, Communications Coordinator Thanks to the Food Bank of Delaware’s Culinary School program and Delaware WONDER, Nitza Valderrama has a job she loves and a future that’s as bright as she can dream of. This Milford resident learned about the job readiness program through her social worker at the Health and Social Services…
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January 9, 2017
Culinary School Student Spotlight: Lisa Rogers
Lisa Rogers works two jobs to support her family and attends class at The Culinary School at the Food Bank of Delaware on week days. Before her day at The Culinary School has begun, she’s already been on the road for several hours driving a bus for a local school district. Weekends are spent working…
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January 5, 2017
Despite hearing impairment, Culinary student sets big goals
Matt Machulski is deaf. But he never let his hearing impairment stop him from accomplishing his goals. With many years experience in the food service industry, Matt came to The Culinary School with significantly more experience than some of his classmates. He spent ten years working in kitchens in Washington, D.C. and had positions as…
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December 22, 2016
2016 Year in Review
Can you believe it? 2016 is almost over! It’s been an exciting year of growth and change at the Food Bank of Delaware! We couldn’t do any of it without your support though! We are looking forward to BIG THINGS in 2017. January: We started the year off celebrating the accomplishments of eight graduates of…
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December 21, 2016
Culinary School teaches life skills too
Hope Truitt received the “Most Improved” award during Dec. 20 graduation ceremonies for the Food Bank of Delaware’s Culinary School in Milford. It’s an honor she didn’t think she would earn when she enrolled in the school’s 11th class 14 weeks ago. Hope also earned a 100 percent score in her Kitchen Final: she prepared…
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December 19, 2016
Culinary training yields employment, boost in self-esteem and more
It’s easy to see that Kelly Halliday is happy at Grandpa Mac’s, one of the Rehoboth’s newest culinary destinations. Kelly graduated from The Food Bank of Delaware’s Culinary School on Oct. 18, but her employment at Grandpa Mac’s started at the beach location in August. Since then, Grandpa Mac’s, one of Chef Hari Cameron’s restaurants,…
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December 9, 2016
Culinary School Spotlight: Lavender Artwell
Lavender Artwell went to social services to apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and was happy to learn about a job readiness program of Delaware Health and Social Services. This employment and training program called Delaware WONDER (Work Opportunity Networks to Develop Employment Readiness) is led by Delaware Health and Social Services Division…
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December 5, 2016
Culinary School Spotlight: Mary Calderoni
Students that attend The Culinary School at the Food Bank of Delaware come from diverse backgrounds. Mary Calderoni is no exception. Mary has spent most of her adult life working in the mental health field. She holds a BFA in Sculpture and Interrelated Media from the Massachusetts College of Art. She later transferred her art…
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November 29, 2016
Culinary School Spotlight: Cleon Stewart
At first, Cleon Stewart applied to The Culinary School at the Food Bank of Delaware as a way out of the Delaware Department of Correction’s Plummer Center. “But I got accepted and just fell in love with it,” he said. Now in week seven of training, Cleon is learning as much as he can under…
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November 14, 2016
Culinary School heats up long-time passion for cooking
By Gwen Guerke, Communications Coordinator Nelson Porto’s passion is cooking, and it has been for at least a few of decades. But this former IT professional was reluctant to combine business with pleasure, if you will. For nearly as many years, he worked in the technology field and kept the food preparation at home. “I…
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