FOODMatch’s Future Community Leader Award

By September 14, 2021February 18th, 2022News

My growth as a person is my biggest accomplishment from my TCA experience, I’m a completely different person than who I was when I started out in February. Now if we’re talking about something more practical it would be when I did a lesson with two of my colleagues from the program (Fareeza & Daphne) and did a live presentation of me making a Strawberry Mango Banana Smoothie. I felt so comfortable and in my element, it was very fun for me.” – Jhonathan. 

The Sylvia Center’s Teen Culinary Apprenticeship internship returned in person after a year of virtual cooking classes. Jhonathan Ortega, a TCA graduate completed his internship as a Teen Chef Instructor where he engaged with youth in learning to build connections with food and nutrition by teaching how to identify, taste, and make a dish with fresh food. Jhonathan is also the FOODMatch’s Future Community Leader Award winner! 

Phil Meldrum, FOODMatch’s president and founder delivered the extraordinary news of this year’s award winner to Jhonathan on a surprise zoom call.

Thank you Doreece and Donald for your guidance and mentorship. Special thanks to Barbara, Culture & Community Manager from FOODMatch! Thank you Phil for making the announcement, your support, and your generosity. 

Congratulations to Jhonathan, the FOODMatch Future Community Leader Award winner of 2021! 

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