The Emory Valley Center in Oak Ridge helps to prepare adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities for the workforce with a unique program operated out of an on-site industrial kitchen.
Participants of the Thrive and Dine program train by cooking meals, staffing the checkout, preparing orders and even responding to rude customers. In the process, they not only learn food preparation and safety, but also budgeting, social skills and hygiene.
Walter Roark's experience at the center prepared him for his job as a prep cook at the nearby Aubrey's, where he portions out menu items and ingredients such as macaroni and cheese, bowtie pasta, spaghetti noodles, broccoli and chicken.
On June 25, Roark was back at the Emory Valley Center kitchen
to keep building his leadership skills as he and his peers prepared to serve up a meal of made-to-order salads with chicken.
Thriving in the kitchen
For Roark, his favorite part of working at Aubrey's is the people. "We cut up with each other, and we all do our jobs," he said. There's collaboration, too; if Roark can't reach something on the top shelf, his co-workers are happy to lend a hand.
The job is also a way for him to earn an income, although there's a catch. Roark will lose his benefits if he accumulates over $2,000, the asset limit to qualify for supplemental security income. But that doesn't hold him back from working to become a leader.
Miranda Kelley, the nonprofit's workforce innovation director, is all about encouraging participants to use their voices. In the kitchen, you can hear "Behind!" called as people move around each other, and when an order is placed, you can hear the shout of "Order up!"
Alongside one-on-one job coaches, participants boiled eggs, cut onions and cooked chicken ahead of lunch. Then, the customers began to arrive. Mostly staff members, they pay a suggested $5 donation for the meal.
Kelley helps participants build the confidence to use their voices in challenging situations, too. That's why she has a mean customer − played by a staff person at the Emory Valley Center − come to every Thrive and Dine session. Once, it was a gentleman who was rushing his coffee order. More recently, it was a woman whose salad was missing the chicken she'd ordered on it. Because of the "controlled environment," participants have an ideal setting to figure out how to respond.
The range of skills that the program helps build are key, Kelley said, especially when many folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities miss out on more traditional training paths that come after high school. "I want people to notice what they can do," she said. "And that's what this is all about, giving them the same opportunities."
Hayden Dunbar Evans is the storyteller reporter. Email: hayden.dunbar@knoxnews.com. Instagram: @knoxstoryteller.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Nonprofit teaches restaurant job skills, from food prep to cranky customers
