FareStart - Great Food, Better Lives

So, in the midst of moving back to Seattle and looking for jobs, I realized I have so much time on my hands and need to keep busy. Looking for jobs is stressful! Shortly after I moved back to Seattle I decided to spend my time volunteering. I applied to the Boeing Flight Museum and FareStart. I submitted the applications and got started working at FareStart right away!

FareStart is a company that trains individuals that are homeless or disadvantaged. The intense 16 week training allows students to have hands on experience in the kitchen and in the classroom. To my surprise, FareStart receives zero financial funding from the government. But they manage to deliver meals to shelters across Seattle 365 days a year. FareStart also operates a daily restaurant that serves lunch to Seattle residents, as well as cater many events. All proceeds from Chef's Night, lunch service, and catering are reinvested back into the job training program. FareStart's mission is to enable disadvantaged individuals to build a new life that supports themselves and family. Unfortunately, because it was my first day, I was unable to take any pictures of my experience. But you can visit FareStart.org to learn more.

As a volunteer, I worked with the head chef, another volunteer, and three students. My first three hour shift was intense as you could imagine, because it is a kitchen. I have worked in restaurants before, and the stress is uncanny but the fast environment is exciting. I started my shift by observing the layout of the organization. There is a reception floor on the 3rd floor that accommodates students in need and also has classrooms. I then went down to the basement to observe the day's class finish up their day in training. There is also another kitchen above the basement that services the main restaurant. The students here are hard working, professional, and friendly. I even acquired the nick name "college girl" while I was there. As the bottom kitchen finished cooking up the meals to be sent to shelters, myself and a few others packaged up the food and loaded it into the vans. FareStart sends hundreds of meals to over 10 shelters a day. It was great to be back in the kitchen as well, I enjoy the strict customs and teamwork that is required in this industry. The meal that the students cooked up that day was chili, cornbread, salad, and a bagel. On our last shelter run, we got the chance to interact with a shelter by serving up food. As we served 180 meals in 10 minutes, our group worked as team by sharing responsibilities and having a good time.

I had a great time volunteering with FareStart. They are an amazing company that offers Seattle residents the chance to give back to the community and support individuals that want to start a fresh new life. As I continue to look for jobs, I will be spending my time assisting with FareStart and learning more about how companies like FareStart are changing Seattle for the better.