Last month, we completed a culinary training pilot in Café 1919, our cafeteria, which is located at the James O. Wright Center for Work and Training. The training focused on providing skill building opportunities for individuals with disabilities who are on track for Supported Employment services.
All four of the trainees successfully completed the program and participated in a completion ceremony late last month. I had the pleasure of attending the ceremony and seeing all of the trainees beaming with pride and optimism for what comes next: a community job!
In fact, Kili and Sendrea are two of the trainees who completed the pilot program and are already employed in community jobs! Sendrea works at Colectivo by the lake and Kili works at Panera (his dream job!).
Sendrea works three days a week cleaning tables and chairs as well as washing dishes. After each shift she is able to get a free beverage so she usually orders an iced coffee with caramel or a hot chocolate. A fun fact; Sendrea is looking forward to going on a cruise with her mother for her birthday this year!
Killi’s main tasks at Panera are prepping salad dressings, cheese, and greens for the salads. Kili also is washing dishes. Kili is always looking for new tasks to learn.
The two other trainees are continuing to work with their job developer to find employment and I hope to be able to give an update on them in my future blog articles.
I am looking forward to having another group of four trainees begin Culinary Institute in September as the training and hands on experience has been incredibly successful in helping individuals prepare for employment.
If you'd like more information on any of our programs feel free to contact me at Christine.Schulz@goodwillsew.com.