Community Kitchen Academy Celebrates Graduation in Burlington

Culinary Students Ready for Employment
 
Burlington, VT—The Vermont Foodbank and Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf (CEFS) are excited to announce the 23rd graduation ceremony for the Community Kitchen Academy (CKA) program in Burlington. 
 
Through this intensive culinary job training program, students develop and apply new skills by cooking with donated food from the community. They work closely with instructors to transform this food and create meals that are then distributed back to neighbors facing hunger.
 
“We couldn’t be more proud of this group of students,” said John Sayles, Vermont Foodbank CEO. “These past 12 weeks they have worked hard to learn new skills and prepare food for people in their community. Through CKA they have transformed their lives and the lives of others.  Bravo!”
 
Chef Instructor Jim Logan, who previously taught at the New England Culinary Institute and managed Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English, brings 30 years of culinary experience to his position at CEFS. 
 
“I’m very excited to be graduating my first class and I have really enjoyed being part of the team at the Food Shelf,” said Jim Logan.  “I have seen students develop top quality culinary skills and produce some amazing dishes.” 
 
Since its inception, Community Kitchen Academy at CEFS has graduated 160 students and boasts a 91% success rate, which is defined as students graduating and finding employment or going on to further educational opportunities. 
 
When:                  Thursday, September 28th, 2017  
                                1:00PM 
 
Where:                Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf
                                228 N. Winooski Ave, Burlington, VT
 
Graduation Speaker:  Chris Benjamin, Chief Operations Officer of the Skinny Pancake will address graduating CKA students.  
Reception to follow featuring hors d’oeuvres from recipes developed by graduating students.
 
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About Community Kitchen Academy
Community Kitchen Academy (CKA) is a statewide program of the Vermont Foodbank that operates in partnership with Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf in Burlington. The Mission of CKA is to prepare underemployed and unemployed Vermonters for a career in the food service industry and lifelong learning through an intensive program of culinary skills development, career readiness and job placement. Students actively develop and apply new skills by creating wholesome meals for those at risk of hunger using food that has been gathered from within our communities that may otherwise go to waste.