Top chefs, all: 11 student culinary teams from across NH split $165K donation from FEEDNH.org
Wednesday night’s celebration at the Rex Theatre was a soiree of gastronomical proportions – well, it was mainly small bites meticulously prepared by teams of aspiring chefs representing 11 statewide high school culinary programs.
MANCHESTER, NH – Wednesday night’s celebration at the Rex Theatre was a soiree of gastronomical proportions – well, it was mainly small bites meticulously prepared by teams of aspiring chefs representing 11 statewide high school culinary programs.
But the event itself was a huge milestone for FEEDNH.org, a local food-centric non-profit that gives back to the community.
In this case, each of the 11 participating programs applied for – and received – a $15,000 check from FEEDNH.org, presented during Wednesday night’s Hill to $1 Mill event. And each team showed what they were made of as they laid out incredible spreads for invited guests to sample, ranging from an array of colorful hors d’oeuvres presented by Plymouth Applied Technology Center, to Milford High School & Applied Technology Center’s decadent chocolate raspberry cream puffs – and all sorts of tasty bites in between.
Among all the competitors there was some sweet icing on the cake for the team from Manchester School of Technology – or more precisely, a little extra tamari ginger sauce on the chicken pops as teammates Mason Beausoleil, Evan Byrne, Kira Harrison and Jade Haze earned an extra $5,000 award after their presentation was judged best in show.
Chef Clif McGee, instructor for the MST culinary program, looked particularly proud and perhaps just as excited about the award as his students, as they climbed up on stage for their giant check.
“We’re unbudgeted, so this is everything,” McGee said, adding that while federal money is normally earmarked for certain aspects of the program, having $20,000 to use with no strings attached will go a long way to defray costs that are often fund-raised or donated.
In total, FEEDNH.org delivered $170,000 to the high school culinary programs pushing the organization over its goal of $1 million in donations.
Jayson McCarter, chef instructor for Concord Regional Technical Center echoed McGee’s sentiments about the generous awards from FEEDNH.org.
“We’re all getting $15,000 from FEEDNH for our programs. For me, that’s more than my budget for the year,” McCarter said. He planned to use the money to replace many of the “small wares” that get constant use. “After 17 years we’re finally updating our dining room, so this money can be used to update equipment,” he said.
Nalisha Iraola and Abigail Lee were representing Nashua Technology Center with their country ham & cheddar sliders with cranberry chutney and a side of salt & vinegar potato chips.
“We thought this would be simple but hearty,” Nalisha said.
FEEDNH.org was formed in 2014 as the charitable trust for Great NH Restaurants (T-BONES, CJ’s, Cactus
Jack’s, Copper Door). The mission of FEEDNH.org Great NH Restaurants Charitable Trust – is to strengthen New Hampshire
communities through philanthropic collaboration, dedicated employee involvement and volunteerism benefiting local Families,
Elderly, Education and Disadvantaged.
“When it became clear that we were nearing the one million mark…we were determined to celebrate the milestone with a very special event,” said Lisa Allen, FEEDNH.org Board Chair.
