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Berlin, Ocean Pines News Worcester County Bayside Gazette Logo Berlin, Ocean Pines News Worcester County Bayside Gazette

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Culinary classes cook up opportunities for Wor. Youth

(March 23, 2017) Baked Dessert Café owner Robin Tomaselli is cooking up new activities with children from Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services programs in Berlin.
During the last year, Tomaselli has worked on culinary projects with dozens of children from the Berlin Youth Club and SABERS and SAGES programs, all of which are overseen by Amanda Chaffee.
“SABERS” stands for strengthening adolescent boys with education and resources and “SAGES” is an acronym for strengthening adolescent girls with education and support.
Chaffee said the cooking classes started with children from the youth club, last summer. That program serves ages 6-11. The other two programs serve adolescents ages 12-15.
“A lot of them have moved over to SABERS and SAGES, so we’ve tried to integrate the same thing, but more in depth,” Chaffee said.
Tomaselli also worked with many of the children in all three programs during a public mural project, last year.
“The whole premise behind it was to take kids that, thanks for Worcester Youth and Family, are exposed to a lot of things they wouldn’t normally be exposed to,” Tomaselli said. “My thing, after working with the kids on the mural project, was how awesome would it be to introduce healthy cooking to the mix? Most of them are at-risk kids that might not necessarily have access either at home or at school to healthy, nutritious meals.”
The children learned how to make shepherd’s pie last week in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, as well as homemade ice cream and cupcakes made with black beans.
They tasted raw green beans – to mixed reviews – then learned how to sauté them with garlic, onions and olive oil.
There were no leftovers that day, according to Chaffee.
“Even our pickiest eater loved the black bean brownies. He still talks about it,” she said. “This kid only eats chicken nuggets, pizza and Nutella sandwiches. For him to eat things like black bean brownies and kale smoothies – that’s awesome.”
“For these kids, some of them might not have people at home that are making their breakfast or an after-school snack,” Tomaselli said. “If they know the kinds of things that they can make themselves … they might be more likely to eat a little bit healthier. It exposes them to things they might not think of and it certainly encourages them to try something new.”
Tomaselli said there was also interest in hosting jobs fairs for the children. A trip to the Worcester Technical High School in Newark is planned for next month, when participants will tour the culinary facilities courtesy of chef/instructor Phil Cropper.
“Whether or not you want to be a chef when you grow up, if you have experience that can translate into work – even if it’s just to work your way through college or find work until you can figure out exactly what you want to do,” she said.
Jennifer Dawicki, owner of The Globe restaurant, had expressed an interest in working with some of the children after they volunteered together during the Artists Giving Back: Meals for the Hungry benefit dinner last November.
“We also want to show them how to interview,” Chaffee said. “Filling out an application is not like texting your friends, and they need to know what to wear. Even though you’re super cute at school, it might not be appropriate to wear [during an interview].”
Along with potential job skills, Chaffee said the Meals for the Hungry program fostered a sense of community service. Two additional events are being planned this year, including a Meals for the Hungry in Germantown in July, with participation from Worcester Youth programs.
During all of those activities, Tomaselli said the experience has been a hugely rewarding one for her.
“I always knew Worcester Youth and Family provided a valuable service to our community, but until you actually see it in action, you have no idea how critical what they do is for the kids in the program. It’s always really mind-blowing to me,” she said.
Some of the children, at first, had been guarded, she said.
“As soon as you penetrate that shield, you see they’re just like my kids – they’re just like your kids. They yearn for the same things and as soon as they believe you have no ulterior motives at play they let down their guard,” Tomaselli said. “Every single one of them are exceptional young people. They just need people in our community to step to the plate and extend themselves to make sure their lives can be the best they can be.
“As a business owner, for me to be successful it’s critical for the entire community to be successful, and you can’t expect that a community is going to be healthy if the children are suffering,” she continued. “I hope the town budgets more money to Worcester Youth and Family. The kids are the future of the community and they need to feel like people care about them, and we need to teach them to be invested in our community.”
Chaffee said the Worcester Youth programs are always looking for additional volunteers and donations, as well as participation from area businesses.
For more information, visit Worcester Youth and Family Counseling at 124 North Main Street in Berlin, call 410-641-4598, or visit www.gowoyo.org.