GRACE serves its 100,000th meal!

GRACE Marketplace will serve its 100,000th meal on Wednesday, February 17th, and will begin its new Culinary Training Program in February, as well. With the new kitchen in place, GRACE has been able to expand its services and the new Culinary Training program will prepare participants for jobs in local restaurants and institutions.

“GRACE could never have made it to this milestone without the incredible support of community groups who come in to prepare meals,” said Lexi Braun, GRACE’s Volunteer Coordinator. “We only got our kitchen equipment in November and before then volunteers cooked meals at churches and homes and brought them in to be served. I don’t know what we would have done without them.”

The new Culinary Training Program will be eight weeks long and combine hands-on kitchen training with online life skills courses and intensive case management. Participants will have an opportunity to put their skills into practice as part of the daily meal preparation and as part of GRACE Catering, which will roll out later this year. This exciting new program is the first job training program being offered at GRACE.

GRACE still needs groups to prepare meals for the coming year. If your group is interested in finding out more about this fun team building opportunity please see our Serve a Meal page for more information.

About GRACE: Quite simply, we meet people where they are and get them the help they need to live the best lives possible. We are a one-stop assistance center for people without housing, bringing together key social service agencies in one location to make it easier for people in our community to get the help they need. GRACE is supported by the City of Gainesville, Alachua County, and the Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry.