Cooking for a Cause

 

Chefs and volunteers gather at the Unemployed Help Centre Kitchen year-round to

provide food to the needy and give opportunities to young people who wish to pursue the culinary arts.

The Unemployed Help Centre in Windsor provides a number of job seeking and exploration

related services around Windsor and Essex County.

In the kitchen, 30 young people are being mentored by chefs whose experience ranges from national

and foreign dishes, basic butchery skills, and the ability to bring youth together to learn about the world

of cooking.

Chef Robert Bertozzi spends each day preparing an average 200 meals for the Meals on

Wheels program. Bertozzi also runs the pre-apprenticeship program, which allows students to learn the

inner workings of a kitchen before joining a post-secondary program or apprenticeship. Bertozzi, who

was a part of the program himself at a younger age, wants the students to see a real kitchen atmosphere

during their time at the UHC.

“The kids get placed out to a job at a real kitchen for eight weeks,” said Bertozzi. “People come

here with no jobs and we give them one for eight weeks, and if the places decide to hire them on after,

that’s even better.”

The UHC has now partnered with the Greater Essex County District School board and allows

students to access credit points in their school careers which pushes them to advance.

“We have regular school hours, night school, co-op programs, apprenticeships, and dual

programing,” said Turnbull. “All of these are under the umbrella of the Unemployed Help Centre.

There really are a lot of cool things happening in the kitchen.”

The kitchen offers students a dual credit program, run by Chef Joe Cilliberto, who teaches

the fundamental skills of cooking at a college level.

“They will learn lots of new skills, especially how to cook,” said Cilliberto. “So at least if they don’t

want to become chefs they get a skill out of it.”

The UHC kitchen program is one piece of the plentiful harvest food program, along with other

agencies such as youth and nutrition programs. Food rescue program manager of the UHC Mike

Turnbull is well aware of the support it brings to the community.

“This is where it all starts. It’s a pretty cool place with a lot happening and the impact it has on the community is cool too,” said Turnbull.

Chef Mark Wakeley (far left) critiques students on their home cooked meals at the Unemployed Help Centre kitchen on October 6, 2016. //photo by Aaron Lombardi//