The Rotary Club of Boise Sunrise has worked with Life’s Kitchen for many years. This impressive organization has a talented and committed executive director in Tammy Johnson. Their mission is to teach food services skills to at risk young adults and get them ready for a possible career in this consistently growing market segment. This is a market-based solution that also provides guidance to their students in helping them to obtain their GED and holding classes on critical life skills like budgeting and time management.
We are proud supporters of LK’s work and they were a primary recipient of Lobsterfests funds in 2023. They recently received a check from the Boise Sunrise Foundation for $38,400 and expect these funds to enable them to grow enrollment in LK’s classes, and support Alumni for up to a year after graduation. This is an outstanding result, and we applaud Tammy and the LK board for their choices with these no-strings-attached funds.
Not all of the graduates from the LK program go into food service jobs. Andrew is a current student at a community college in Oregon and is an LK alum. Tammy helps us tell his story below.
Andrew’s mother told him about the program and suggested he investigate this opportunity. Andrew had been forced to drop out of Charter School for mental health reasons. He transferred to a new school and found the environment there was also unhealthy. A third option of online school was hard as Andrew found it difficult to stay motivated. The traditional school system wasn’t his cup of tea. Life’s Kitchen was a perfect fit for him to receive the support of culinary services and GED education. Culinary is one of his goals for the future and he looks forward to seeing what direction this can take him.
He came in with an open mind to gain new knowledge and experiences. He knew he needed his GED to continue on his educational path. Through the LK program, he realized he could find culinary services education within a college course of study. He initially attended culinary studies classes and then he decided to switch his major to becoming a Registered Nurse. One set of potential goals is to become a psychiatric Nurse, with potential specialties in traveling Nursing and Pediatric Nursing.
He enjoyed working with and around the Life’s Kitchen Staff. Their kindness and acceptance made him eager to find out what his passions were. He valued himself as a person and began to define in his own mind what kind of environment he wanted to work in. Serving school lunch was one terrific and eye-opening experience that enabled him to see the younger students be themselves and grateful to have food.
Along with the challenges of the classes, Andrew also had a long commute to get to LK. He showed his commitment to finishing this program by effectively managing that time and cost challenge well. He received his GED while in the program. He clearly states that he is very proud of himself and the level of education he has achieved. The guidance from the program was well aimed, critical to his success, and very supportive.
He currently attends Southwestern Community College and plans to transfer back to the Treasure Valley at CWI this fall. His stated major is going to be Pre-Med and the Certified Nursing Program at CWI. After college he plans on finding a place to live and work towards developing his career and making a living.
At Boise Sunrise, we love to hear and share stories of impact like this one. We seek effective collaboration with outstanding non-profits like Life’s Kitchen. Lives are changed with the LK efforts and with the financial support from Lobsterfest and Boise Sunrise Rotary.
If triggering this kind of impact is of interest to you, we’d love to buy you breakfast and meet you any Tuesday morning 7:00 – 8:00 AM at The Riverside Hotel in Garden City. Bravo! to Life’s Kitchen and to Andrew as they are both working to leave it better than they found it!
