Milford’s LOGIC grads praised for achieving goals, encouraged to take risks

September 4, 2024

At the Food Bank of Delaware, we celebrate graduations; it’s a ceremony and more — time to recognize the commitment graduates, and their families, have made achieving life-changing goals. We know that they have faced fears, overcome challenges, made friends, and are about to embark on new careers. Congratulations to the 2024 L.O.G.I.C. graduates from our Milford facility!

On Wednesday, Sept. 4, Haneef Dozier, Quaneef Dozier, Avery Fenderson, Demetrius Harris, John McLeish, and Allen Plummer officially completed the workforce training program, earning certificates and for some, job placements.

L.O.G.I.C. (Logistics, Operations, General Warehousing and Inventory Control) is a 14-week training program, certified as a trade school by the Delaware Department of Education, that prepares students for careers in the warehousing/logistics industry. Under the guidance of an Operations Instructor, students train in the warehouses of the Food Bank of Delaware in Newark and Milford! Students receive 444 hours of training and work experience over the course of 14 weeks.

In her opening remarks, Food Bank President and CEO Cathy Kanefsky, told the graduates that warehouse and logistics operations training receives substantial corporate support because the “Industry is growing here. Industry leaders on the other side are looking to hire,” she said.

Guest speaker Alana King, RN, MSN, is a workforce development specialist at Bayhealth Medical Center. She shared personal challenges she experienced during a 24-year career, starting as a registered nurse, after graduating from Delaware Tech’s Terry Campus.

She told the grads to anticipate constant changes. “Life rarely presents a constant trajectory,” she said, citing of a time early in her career when she decided to train as part of a new cardiac thoracic team, requiring her to care for critically ill patients using new techniques and equipment. “The opportunity was career defining. Failure was not an option,” she said, adding that taking bold risks and requires perseverance and adaptability.

King left the graduates with three key messages:
• Be open to change.
• Cultivate relationships through collaboration and teamwork.
• Keep dreaming and be ambitious.

She urged them to think as stressful occasions as “stretch moments. Tale risks and be grounded in your core values. Carry curiosity and resilience. You hold the pen. Seize the opportunities that arise.”

Graduate Demetrius Harris said to his classmates, “As we move forward, let us carry with us the lessons we learned not just in handling machinery, but in working as a team, solving problems with creativity and logic and approaching our tasks with diligence and integrity. We are now equipped to make a real difference.

To learn more about the LOGIC training program, click here.