Master Chef Competition for adults with Developmental Disabilities

In 2015, Rotarian Emmanuel requested a small community grant (CSG) of $500 to help with Culinary Competition to help a local (in South of France) vocational school for people with disabilities of Salernes, France.  They organized (alas a year after the original planned date) in June of 2015 a “Master Chef” type competition between various local culinary school for people with Developmental Disabilities.

The local vocational school for people with disabilities of Salernes, France, has programs to train people with disabilities as laundry workers, garden and grounds keepers and cooks and restaurant employees. This CSG will provide prizes for the top three chefs in a competition.

This CSG Project benefited 1) People with developmental disabilities in culinary training. They will cherish the prizes forever, as these will be a recognition of their achievements. We will get the help of a local very well known chef to select the prizes that will make an impact to them. And 2) Rotary in general and Rotary eClub One for the huge visibility created by this event.

The Rotary eClub One Rotarian’s personal involvement with the CSG Project included volunteering in many areas of the local school for people with Developmental Disabilities: In conjunction with the local Rotary Club, he led a walkathon to raise funds for exercise equipment on the lawn of one of their programs , he started a very successful philatelic group meeting twice a month for the 20 workers in Garden Maintenance and Laundry Training and is volunteering in many areas as needed including member of the Quality of Life Committee of the center.

For the first time ever, the school will organize a cooking contest between various training culinary school for people with disabilities. The $500 represents about 1/10th of the total budget for this project: the funds from Rotary eClub One will be spent to purchase the three main prizes. This would be in conjunction with funds from the Center itself, the local bank, the local Rotary Club among others.

Rotary eClub One will be mentioned prominently as the providers of the prizes, increased by the participation of the famous Chef, newspaper coverage, and certainly the Rotary eClub One logo on the prizes.  Emmanuel was personally involved in the press releases.

This letter from the organizing establishment was included: 

Letter from the IME, local center for people with developmental disabilities

Mr. President of Rotary eClub One

I have the honor to contact you for the organization of an event between centers for handicapped youth.  This event will promote our new training restaurant that should be ready for opening in March 2015 in order to valorize the young workers with their leader Mr. Roch.

The IME of Salernes hosts young people with mental handicaps between the ages of 6 and 20 and older.

The mission of our center is to prepare the young ones toward a vocational direction as adults.  Within our center we have a section to initiate them to a profession and the first step toward that formation to integrate them within a regular professional setting or one more adapted to people with handicaps.

            Our center is in the process to be enlarged.  In March 2015 we will be ready for a boarding school for ten individuals with autism plus a training area for that professional initiation.

The event we are planning to organize will be comprised of different alike centers in the area.  A contest will be organized just as seen on TV like Top Chef except this one will be with people with developmental disabilities.

We are looking for sponsors knowing that this event will definitely be covered in the local medias.  We already have already contacted the Rotary eClub One, The Auberge de Moustiers owned by very famous Chef Alain Ducasse, La Bastide du Calalou, another famous restaurant and Chateau de Berne, one of the largest wine producer of fine wine around here.

We are looking for people helping us organize the event, for famous recognize chefs as Jury, for prizes of the contest and/or money to purchase the ingredients of the contest.  This event would take place late spring or early summer and needs to be developed and defined with the other centers for people with developmental disabilities around. Please do not hesitate to contact me for any other question you may have on these exciting project.

Signed: Henri Badell, Director of IME Salernes.

On July 4, 2016, the local newspaper reported:

“The Chefs of Center for handicapped in the kitchen”

A new training restaurant was inaugurated last In May 2015 in Salernes.  “The Pine Tree Terrace” was created as the first Professional training for people with developmental disabilities.  Quickly an idea to organize some kind of Top Chef competition between various similar centers came up to validate the quality and progress the students and the teachers made.

The idea was to put in competition the students of various similar centers.

For this first competition, they came from Saint Antoine, Le Colombier and Salernes.  They all got together last week in order to cook.  They drew to decide who will cook a Spanish hors d’oeuvre, a French entrée or an Italian dessert.  They all had 3.5 hours to prepare the meal they were assigned to.  A selected jury composed of the city representative, the directors of the various schools and a local Rotarian ate the meal.  The students showed the talents and competencies learned throughout the year thanks to their counselors/chefs.

After the completion of the meal and discussions, the trophies created in ceramic by a local pottery called Gasoline where handed out by the jury.  These prizes were financed by the Rotary eClubOne in Colorado, USA thanks to their president Emmanuel Serrière.