What Recipients of Our Foundation Grants Are Saying

FIGHTING HUNGER

Philadelphia Community Kitchen trainees

Philabundance Community Kitchen (PCK) is a free 14-week culinary vocational training program that enrolls low- and no-income adults. Through job training, life-skills development, earning a ServSafe (safe food handler) certificate and ongoing support after graduation, PCK prepares its graduates to secure paid jobs in the food industry. Cooks-in-training help prepare some of the 250,000 high-quality nutritious meals that Philabundance cooks annually for community members in need. Our foundation co-sponsored one trainee in the fall 2019 culinary vocational class.

When asked to share ways that the program helped, the students had the following to say:

• "(There is) no way you can go through this program without bettering yourself."
• "I am now OK with stepping into the culinary field with my head on straight. I am now armed with more skills that I have obtained in three months than I have in the past three years!"
• "The program has helped me gain experience in a new field and build new healthy habits that’ll help me, not just in the culinary world, but in life in general. Plus the support system here has helped me realize my true potential and kept me going - even on days I wanted to quit."
• "My professionalism as well as my knife skills have hit an all-time high."

And then there is the story of "Gil", a 50-year-old self-motivated gentleman who was previously incarcerated. He was eager to learn the skills, and his primary goal was to get the knowledge needed to obtain employment in the food industry. He is now planning to develop an urban garden enterprise, supply restaurants and gain a more in-depth understanding of how today' food industry works. "Everyone at PCK wants you to succeed. They have high expectations."

Trellis for Tomorrow participants

Trellis For Tomorrow's Youth Seed Enterprise is an eight-week summer program for teens aged 13-18 in which they establish organic gardens, manage the gardens, harvest the produce and distribute nutrient-dense food to their Chester and Montgomery County economically challenged communities. The 30 teens learn many important leadership and life skills, such as how to run an entrepreneurship, food handling, ordering supplies and writing checks. In addition, this program provides underserved youth from Pottstown and Chester with training and opportunities in many social, interpersonal, economic, physical and emotional areas as they nourish their own bodies and communities with healthy food. They are also paid for their meaningful work. This program has a positive impact on 60-100 households. Our foundation co-sponsored a scholarship for one of the youths in the program.

Some of the students shared the following thoughts to donors at the annual Farm To Table fundraiser in October:

• "This program opened my eyes more to my community and its problems, and what we can do to help (the residents) solve them. This isn’t just about food and hunger. One of the neighbor' sons developed brain cancer. We raised money with GoFundMe campaigns and bake sales and made visits to the home to help out."
• "This experience this summer taught me to give, not just receive."
• It made me aware of the concepts of food justice, organic farming and "food deserts." (food desert: an area with limited access to affordable nutritious food, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, usually found in low-income areas; due to lack of grocery stores and farmer markets. Lack of transportation and less disposable income leads to the purchase of fast foods and processed foods available at the "corner store.")
• "I love to see the way my neighbors’ faces light up when we deliver the fresh vegetables. And we have to hand them a recipe for what to do with the vegetables, that we have made or looked up on Google."

FIGHTING HATE

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE'S NO PLACE FOR HATE PROGRAM ®

Our Foundation has given a grant to support the ADL's No Place For Hate® program at John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School in Philadelphia for the 2019/20 school year. This initiative provides students and teachers with a framework for combating bullying, bias and hate, including cyber-hate.

Peer Leadership training is a pivotal component of this program. The 24 students chosen for the program are taught how to become leaders and agents of change in their schools by facilitating difficult conversations about bias and discrimination, while increasing the appreciation for diversity. The goal is to encourage a more inclusive school climate and build a community of respect.

Here is feedback from the students after two days of the three-day peer training."

• "I have to be more aware of my biases and how I perceive others."
• "I was able to gain a better understanding of the importance of language and bias."
• "One thing I got from today is to inform more people about the impact they have on others by having prejudice."
• "It is very important to listen and communicate."
• "I was able to get different perspectives on issues I was never truly clear on."

Jennifer Kugler, a teacher at Hallahan and one of the peer training coordinators had this comment after the "Closing Circle" on the third and final day of the training, in which she had the role of participant rather than facilitator:

• "I watched these 24 girls grow into leaders over the course of three days’ time. I saw friendships form among girls of different backgrounds and different grade levels. I saw the beginnings of a real support network that, when nurtured through continued meetings and conversations, will thrive and will make our school community stronger, closer and infinitely better. These girls always wanted to do what was right, but now they have the tools to affect real change. Thank You."

FIGHTING SEXUAL EXPLOITATION/HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Justice For Victims Advocates Alexis Tomlinson, Esq. and Jamie Pizzi, Esq.

For the fourth year, our Foundation has partnered with the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Institute To Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE Institute) to support the Justice For Victims Clinical Fellowship.

The two attorneys who serve in this role as Clinical Fellows provide direct advocacy for prostituted victims, including working with the Defenders’ Association and/or serving as the survivors’ criminal defense attorneys, as well as working with judges in restorative justice programs that benefit the victims.

Last spring, one of the attorneys, Jamie Pizzi, Esq., helped one survivor to vacate 22 convictions she sustained while being trafficked in the Philadelphia area. In addition, she and her co-attorney helped a 50-year-old man, sold into trafficking by his family as a teen, to have his decades-long sentence vacated.

Below is a quote from a client whose sentence Pizzi is hoping to vacate in Philadelphia. She has also helped her with job applications that require information on her criminal background as they move through the process in court.:

• "My experience with Jamie Pizzi and the CSE Institute has been phenomenal. From application to contact, Jamie has worked diligently with me to educate and aid me in the process of clearing my incarcerated background. When I applied for a position with the Target Corporation, she facilitated the process by interpreting my past history. Jamie is an exceptional legal advisor."

And Jamie wished to share a personal note form herself:

• "I feel as though I have the best job in the world because I have the privilege of providing direct legal services to such courageous individuals. I also get to use my platform to help bring about social change so perhaps in the future no one will have to endure the same extreme hardships and abuse that my clients have experienced."