Food Bank celebrates graduating class

Graduates of the August 2024 Culinary and L.O.G.I.C. programs at the Food Bank of Delaware (Photo courtesy of the Food Bank of Delaware)

The Food Bank of Delaware celebrated 17 students of their Culinary Arts and L.O.G.I.C. programs on August 22 at the Milford campus. Graduates completed a 14 week couse learning logistics, warehousing, operations, inventory control along with culinary arts.

“From day one, these students have demonstrated their dedication to be successful in this program. Typically, when classes start, I hear from our team here kind of what the general vibe is in the class. From day one, I have heard nothing but how great these folks are. This program is not easy. Not everyone who starts is able to finish. In order for them to be out here today, they had to be committed to the program which is sometimes difficult and they’re here today,” Anna McDermott, Chief Impact Officer, aaid. “They would not have been able to graduate today without the support of all of you. I love how full this room is and how many people are here to support these folks. So, thank you so much support over the last 14 weeks, and as we move forward in their careers, these programs would not be possible without the donations of time and resources that make it possible for us to offer these opportunities.”

Cathy Kanefsky, CEO and President of the Food Bank, commented that she was excited for the graduates and proud to see how far they had come in the program.

“No student pays out of pocket to attend our programs. Nobody pays a penny to attend this program, which is pretty incredible. We’re proud to do it. We can’t do it without the generous support from our community,” Kanefsky said. “We give our students that they need to thrive, not only in their careers, but in daily lives. Nice things, they’re all important, but what they learn beyond cooking skills, I think, is what’s going to make the difference in their lives.”

Graduates of the L.O.G.I.C. program, which stands for Logistics, Operations, General Warehousing and Inventory Control, included Harold Bissoon, Donte Brown, Chetor Carter, James Freeland, Vonnie Lacey, Derek Lord, Drema O’Neill, Elijah Rayfield, Anthony Schmidt and Takell Thomas. Graduates of the Culinary program included Damonae Backus, Gregory Davis, Chad Hart, Ali Harrington, Aniqua Jolly, Ida Luke and Cameran Saunders.

The keynote speaker at the event was Chef Timothy Witcher, Owner of the Wing Kitchen and Witcher’s Kitchen. Witcher has appeared on the Food Network show “Chopped,” losing in 2015 but returning for a redemption episode the following year which he won. Chef James Bacchues, Culinary Instructor at the Food Bank, recalled an interview with Chef Witcher where he was asked if he had a “license,” causing Bacchues to pause and respond honestly he did not know what Witcher meant. Witcher applauded the honesty and became a mentor to Bacchues.

“I still remember James coming to the office and I’m asking the questions, man, he gave me a look. I just want to congratulate you guys, because the journey is difficult and it just gets tougher. You guys heard me. It just gets tougher. I thought about this last night, and I want to talk to you about feet. So when I was younger, about to go into junior high school, I had anxiety, and when I was going to a new place, I would walk outside my house and would look down to my feet. Now I was thinking about and imagining what my feet were going to be like walking to this new school,” Witcher said. “Pretty soon, my anxiety subsided when I looked at my feet and imagined what I want. So, every opportunity, I was in college, and I was doing an externship at the hotel and had a chef that was big and angry, and walking in, it’s huge building with the best, big kitchen. And after awhile, you forget about you walking in, and you start doing things. I was in the kitchen, my flavors were big. We’re busy, and I’ll have stuff all over the place. My food looked beautiful, but I was running around the kitchen. He said, ‘You’re wasting your steps, every step you take. So if you’re on the line, you can’t study every step.’ And that stuck with me.”

Witcher told the graduates to capture the moments and visualize the new opportunities ahead of them. He stated that walking into the studio for the “Chopped” episode, he viewed very much like walking into a new kitchen, remembering the same feet were taking me where I needed to be.

“This is not a metaphor. This is serious. Every step you take, make sure that you do something with purpose, because no matter what, the Lord orders our steps, and if you believe that every step means something and has something to say, take advantage of your steps. Make sure they matter,” Witcher said. “I just want to I talked to these guys. Some graduations are little special and this is definitely one of those special ones for me. Because not only did I get to know the culinary students, but the L.O.G.I.C. guys, we had some real talks too. I got to know these guys. I know, for some of you know, every day was a struggle. We talked about some days were a struggle. Some of these guys, I got to know, they worked overnight. They still came to class every day still came in. I told them the hardest thing you’re going to have to do is show up every day. That’s exactly what every last one of these guys did. They showed up every day. They worked overnight.

Each graduate was given the opportunity to make a few statements after they received their certificate.

I almost missed the opportunity to participate in this wonderful program. My counselor, Mr. Faust, recommended it , and I was very like put off at first because I didn’t know anything about it, luckily for me, I convinced myself. And it was one of the best decisions I have made  in my life. There are wonderful people, students, staff. Chef James, he called me Emoji Man. There’s a picture of an emoji, right, with a thumbs up and I was always coming every day and be like, “thumbs up.” Yo what’s up, you know? But some days, you know, he wasn’t clicking like that,” Harold Bissoon said. “Every day I was happy. Every single day. I’m even sad that the class ended. Honestly, they have made it very clear that once you leave, you are never gone. I will always be a part of this family. I will always come back. And you know, just if I can toss it out there to anybody you know, anybody who has doesn’t seem like they have some direction going on in life right now, look into this program.”

Bacchues stated that Takeil Thomas did not have an answer for him on the first day when the chef asked what made him come into the program. According to Bacchues, Thomas said “I don’t know what else to do with me.”

“I, just like everybody else, I just want to say thank you. I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I came here. So ,this opportunity, changed my life. I didn’t think I was gonna finish this over 14 weeks. Honestly, I just came here to learn something different. Everybody was telling me to do it. I’m glad I did,” Thomas said. “I met a lot of friends I feel like I’m a better position than I was when I first started.”

In the culinary program, Bacchues stated that Gregory Davis had never cooked before entering the program, something that actually worked in his favor as he had not developed bad kitchen hebits.

“There’s always a question from chef, but he always has an answer. He’s always around. This whole experience has been wonderful. They got my transportation. Aly taught me recipes and cooking processes. Greg and Cam and Ida helped me with all the cleaning, because dishes pile up. They do, and it’s such an important part of the kitchen. Appreciate that. Appreciate Antoine, and I appreciate Sarah,” Davis said. “There’s so much support here that helps people elevate. And that’s the thing about Chef James, is that I feel like he created an atmosphere where there was no judgments, no belittling, where you can make mistakes, but you were allowed correct those mistakes with this helping guidance, not being discarded because you didn’t know what to do, Chef actually taught you. And that’s a beautiful thing. So in closing up to say that the Food Bank of Delaware culinary program is a testament that anybody, no matter their background, race, what they identify as, whatever the case may be, you can reinvent yourself and go on to do bigger and better things. You’ve learned not only to feed your soul, but to speak your flesh, and if you’re good at it, might be everybody else alone told. Joy was a classroom.”

After the ceremony, attendees were treated to lunch created by the culinary program.