Program to offer food-service training to CCS clients

IC photo/Laura Vallejo

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Matthew Melville, director of CCS' Homeless Services, announces the new program at the Sept. 20 press conference.

SALT LAKE CITY —  Catholic Community Services of Utah has launched a kitchen training program at the Saint Vincent de Paul dining hall in Salt Lake City.

Thanks to $1.5 million in donations, CCS will be able to renovate its soup kitchen as well as offer a program to train its clients and help them find jobs in the food service industry, said  Matthew Melville, director of CCS’ Homeless Services, at a Sept. 20 press conference.

“Our clients want to work. They want to be able to provide for themselves and their families, but they need to learn the employable skills to reach that goal,” Melville said in a press release. “Our new Kitchen Training Program will give participants real-life experience and prepare them for working in the food industry and getting back on their feet.”

The dining hall serves about 1,000 meals each day. Its primary goal “is making sure everybody is fed every day,” and the training program, which will last about eight weeks, will complement that, Melville said.

“Our clients are already down here; they want job training; they want to get out of here as quick as possible. And anything they can have that will give them a leg up, we’re ready to do that,” said Melville.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau,  in Utah 1 in 10 adults  and 1 in 8 children lives in poverty; Utah is ranked 4th in the nation for the highest rate of very low food security. About 350,000 people in Utah are at risk of missing one meal every day.

The new program is being offered through a partnership with Catalyst Kitchens, an initiative of the FareStart organization based in Seattle, Wash. The organization is devoted to ending joblessness, poverty and hunger, according to their mission statement.

The program is meant to offer job and life skills training and allow “trainees and patrons to participate in a proactive, sustainable solution that offers a tangible path to increased ability and self-sufficiency,” according to the CCS press release.

The remodeling is expected to begin in a few weeks and be completed by next summer.