Prambs wanted to do more, and began
bringing dinner for the shelter’s children,
staff and volunteers. “I did that for about
three years, and then I thought, ‘What
about the other days?’ I called around to
see if other restaurants could pitch in,
and I wanted to make sure that whoever
committed was going to get the meal
done every week. These kids have
enough problems, and it was important to
guarantee consistency.”
Prambs lined up the kitchens at the Hyatt
Regency Austin, Barton Creek Resort and
the Omni Austin Hotel Downtown, and the
children now receive four meals a week,
cooked in the participants’ kitchens.
”For more than 10 years, Chef Prambs
has prepared and delivered meals for the
children in our care every Wednesday
evening,” says Gena VanOsselaer, the
shelter’s executive director. “He saw a
need, and took it upon himself to recruit
other chefs to do the same. It reduces
our costs, but, more importantly, it sends
a message to the children that other
people care about them and that they
are important.”
A hand up
For Timothy Tucker, the kitchen of
Louisville, Ky.’s, Salvation Army Center of
Hope offers the opportunity to combine
what he learned as a student in the
culinary program at Sullivan University,
Louisville, and on the line at such
restaurants as Mansion on Turtle Creek
in Dallas and Seattle’s The Painted Table.
It has also allowed him to develop his
commitments to sustainable and healthy
food and teaching and training future
culinary professionals.
Timothy Tucker, picking vegetables in The
Salvation Army Garden of Hope, says food
cooked from scratch results in a superior
finished product.
Tucker came to the Salvation Army in
2005 to oversee breakfast and dinner
served daily to 400 homeless and low-income men, women and families. “The
first thing I did was plant gardens, so we
have many of our own vegetables and
herbs,” he says. “The second thing I did
was race to our local Whole Foods [based
in Austin, Texas] and the smaller Rainbow
Blossom [based in Louisville] and set up
accounts, so that we could get excess
fruits and vegetables twice a week. I only
want the best ingredients.”
He also got involved in Kentucky Hunters
for the Hungry, Williamstown, Ky., which
donates venison, and has been building
relationships with local farmers through
Grasshoppers Distribution in Louisville,
which handles a wide variety of livestock,
including beef, buffalo and rabbit. “We
cook from scratch here,” Tucker says. “It
takes more labor and time, but the finished
product is superior.”
In 2006, he developed the Salvation
Army Culinary Training Program, an
eight-week curriculum and four-week
internship at a local restaurant. “We don’t
exist only to house and feed people,”
Tucker says. “We exist to heal people,
and this program was born out of that
fundamental truth. We want to reconnect
marginalized people to society. So far, we
have graduated 50 people. For some, just
getting out in the work force anywhere is
an accomplishment. For others, working
in fine-dining restaurants is an attainable
goal, and I have a few graduates who are
truly on that path.”
Participants not only learn basic
culinary skills but receive training in
self-marketing, résumé development,
workplace ethics and communication.
According to Matt Yates, director of the
Center of Hope, “Chef Tim has given
the best help a person can provide.
He is giving a hand up, not a hand
out. He is teaching people how to live
independently and survive in a tough
work environment. Basically, that is the
complete mission of what we do here at
the Center of Hope. Instead of giving a
fish, we teach you to fish.”
www.acfchefs.org
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