Kitchen School Graduation: Celebrating Courage, Creativity and Community
December 10, 2025
Today we celebrated a milestone moment, the graduation of the 14th class of The Kitchen School, our 12-week culinary training program for adults with disabilities. Families, friends, staff and community partners filled the room as students marked the end of 12 weeks of hard work, growth and discovery.
“You all give me hope for the future,” said Food Bank of Delaware President and CEO Cathy Kanefsky. “You worked really hard to get to this class and then every single day, you’ve been working hard and we’re just so incredibly proud of you.”
She emphasized that The Kitchen School is about more than cooking; it’s about learning to thrive in a workplace and building connection.
Under the instruction of Chef Rob Taylor, the students learned the ins and outs of the food service industry like essential kitchen techniques, food safety and preparation, and developed the soft skills necessary to obtain meaningful employment.
Beth Ferrier of Harvest Market provided inspiring keynote remarks and brought heartfelt insight from the employer’s perspective. She shared how she first connected with the Food Bank through hiring a Kitchen School graduate, an employee who recently celebrated his one-year anniversary.
Beth reflected on the power of food memories and the courage it takes to work in food service:
“Let me tell you, it takes heart to work in food service… We take care of people. And you can tell when something was made with love,” she said.
Beth encouraged graduates to embrace vulnerability in learning. “Folks underestimate how much courage it takes to make a mistake and keep going,” she said. “It never gets easy, if you don’t push through the hard part. You have to peel away the sour rind to get to the sweet fruit.”
Specialized Training Program Lead Danielle Finlay introduced each graduate at the conclusion of Beth’s keynote remarks.
The graduates included:
- Thomas Atkinson
- Garrett Bandrowsky
- Rumani Birch
- Cameron Hanna
- Seanna Mitchell
- Mekhi Patrick
- Saniya Rochester
- Salvador Viruet
- Aziz Wiggins-Brown
- Myles Younger
The room heard both funny and inspiring reflections from the graduates themselves.
Garrett Bandrowski proudly shared, “Thank you everyone for the opportunity at the Food Bank to learn to be a chef… One of my favorite things I did was make my practical which was latkes. I also enjoyed making pumpkin muffins and sauerkraut, but not together.”
Rumani Burch moved the room with her honesty, “I just want to say it was hard for me, getting out of high school and trying to find myself. Everybody is having babies, getting married and all that stuff. I didn’t know what I wanted to be. I was really lost. So, me finding this program… it really showed me a purpose that I can be anything I want to be.”
The celebration also included a delicious showcase of the graduates’ culinary talents. Guests were treated to a menu prepared by the students, highlighting their creativity and the techniques they’ve learned throughout the program.
Congratulations, graduates!
