Will work for food career

Two programs that offer practical cooking and kitchen training are helping to give the down-and-out and disenfranchised skills they can use in the job market. Both programs offer basic culinary training to help people get back on their feet and lead productive lives.

Springs Rescue Mission’s Samaritan’s Kitchen
Walter Lofton points to the plaque on the dining room wall in the Springs Rescue Mission’s Samaritan’s Kitchen and beams with pride.

“These are the men who have completed our Food Safe training here in the last five years,” he said.

Lofton is the food-services manager and chef at the Samaritan’s Kitchen, 5 W. Las Vegas St. He manages the kitchen staff that serves dinners for hungry and homeless individuals, and also teaches the culinary program to people who are in the Springs Mission New Life program. It’s a free six-month apprentice program that follows American Culinary Federation guidelines for basic food sanitation and basic food-preparation skills.

“We hold a seminar in sanitation for the apprentices,” said Rob Hudson, culinary arts department chair at Pikes Peak Community College. “Once they complete the six-month apprenticeship, they have a choice of signing up for the two-year apprenticeship program.”
There is a tuition fee for students who opt to continue their culinary training beyond the Food Safe training at the Samaritan’s Kitchen.

“We have helped about 30 to 40 guys who are out of recovery (drugs and alcohol) or jail or off the streets,” Lofton said.

After completing 1,000 hours of training, students are eligible for a Food Safe certificate. They work eight hours a day, six days a week, preparing the dinners that are served to more than 100 hungry people each day who come to the Springs Mission’s Samaritan’s Kitchen.

Lofton also runs a catering company that supplies meals for other not-for-profit organizations. His students help with this as well, as part of their training. Once they get their Food Safe certificate, they can get a job in a commercial kitchen.

“My biggest thing is to get (students) set up with other missions or camps where they can work,” he said. Having a job “changes their life.”

He has placed students in kitchens all over the country.

Lofton, who has been in mission work for 25 years, got his culinary training in San Francisco in the Job Corps. He graduated in 1998 and helped open the Samaritan’s Kitchen eight years ago.

The facility is open to anyone who is hungry and needs a meal.

AspenPointe Café
AspenPointe, which operates the AspenPointe Café, is a social enterprise that offers vocational-training programs for the disenfranchised (disabled and disadvantaged) in the Colorado Springs community.

Its culinary-training program is longer than the Food Safe program at Springs Mission. It’s a 17-week training program that covers cooking, knife skills, food preparation, sanitation and food safety. Students progress at their own pace, taking as long as they need to complete the three-tier program.

“The beauty of our program is that it is not on any strict time frame,” said Brian Toon, director of business operations. Students “can take as long as they need to complete (it).”
There is a charge of $2,500 to complete the first three tiers of training.

“The fourth tier is an internship that is free,” Toon said.

The training facility, AspenPointe Café, 5069 N. Academy Blvd., opened in June. On Valentine’s Day of this year, a second training eatery was opened, called Justice Way Café, in the Douglas County Robert A. Christensen Justice Center.

“There are several objectives for our training facilities,” Toon said. “We want to offer in-house training for the disenfranchised to help them be employable; offer catering to raise revenue to return to our programs; offer food-service training; and obtain contract meals.”
The training is paying off.

“Michael Council is a good example,” said James Archuleta, assistant manager of the cafe.
“When he first started, he could only do one thing. As the days went by, he learned more and more jobs in the kitchen.

“Now he can multitask. He can run the kitchen on his own when I’m not here.”

Council, a former drug addict, says he might be dead if he had not found help and recovery through AspenPointe services and a sense of purpose as a line cook with AspenPointe Café.

You can taste what students are learning to make locally at AspenPointe Café, which is open to the public for breakfast and lunch. Hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
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Call Farney at 636-0271. Hear her “KVOR Table Talk” radio show noon to 1 p.m. Saturdays on 740 AM.