From Our Hearts, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of FOH Inc, a Miami-based designer and manufacturer of commercial grade dinnerware, buffetware, and tabletop accessories, turned their efforts to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, where FOHers teamed up with Chef José Andres’ World Central Kitchen (WCK) and their new culinary school, Ecole des Chefs, where students master culinary career skills and graduate on to successful careers in the growing hospitality industry in Haiti.
Front of the House donated over $10,000 of dinnerware and tabletop accessories to the Ecole des Chefs, and the From Our Hearts™ team who traveled to Haiti June 21-24, where they delivered and installed the donated products in time for the culinary school’s first student led fund-raising dinner since it opened last November.
The dinner was attended by World Central Kitchen Board Member, Jean-Marc DeMatteis of DCG Haiti who was a driving force behind the schools’ vision, development, and realization, as well as other local and global advocates, influencers, and supporters of the real change that WCK’s initiative is providing to aspiring Haitian chefs through education and expertise in the skills necessary for a meaningful career and productive future.
According to an article posted on World Central Kitchen’s website, the school already has a “100% track record of graduating chefs being placed in internships in top restaurants in Port-Au-Prince; and over 60% of them receive job offers upon completion of their internship.” The article continues, “Because of World Central Kitchen’s investment, young adults in Haiti are able to find lasting employment in Haiti’s growing hospitality industry and increase their lifetime earnings by an average of 500%.”
At the event attended and sponsored by FOH Inc’s From Our Hearts team, World Central Kitchen raised over $3,000 which will provide full scholarships to two Haitian students in the upcoming term which starts in September.
World Central Kitchen’s Chief Program Officer, Alexandra Garcia, who was in Haiti with the FOH team adds, “We are truly grateful for our partnership with FOH and look forward to continued collaboration in Haiti and other programs worldwide. From FOH’s support of our World Food Day to their donation of restaurant quality products for our culinary training programs, it’s clear that our two organizations share a deep commitment to helping communities thrive through the power of food. Partnerships such as this one, that are built on mutually held values and beliefs of service to others, lie at the root of World Central Kitchen’s ability to help thousands of people around the world with emergency feeding and long term job training and resilience building programs.”
