Volunteers to cook for Iowan's plagued by floods

Chefs,

The flooding in Iowa and specifically Cedar Rapids has caused the need for 1000 dinners per day from the Salvation Army. They have the kitchen and many volunteers to help but they need chefs to lead the kitchen/cooking. They have menus and food is on it's way but they need at least 3 chefs per day for the next 30 days. If any of you can help please email me ASAP so Lisa and I can get a calendar together with who can work. There are hotel rooms booked so there is no cost to you to stay. Thank you for considering our request and forwarding this to your chapter members.

Thank you,
Chef BJ

Benjamin Whitmore CSC, President
ACF of Iowa
2008 Central Region Chapter of the Year!
president@acfiowa.org
www.acfofiowa.org
(641) 629-0225

Welcome to The American Culinary Federation of Iowa Forum Portal

Good Evening Chefs...

8:00 PM Wednesday June 18th

Message from - Lynn Krause, CEPC, AAC - ACF St. Louis - ACF Disaster Relief Team

As you all are probably witnessing on the National News, the State of Iowa is literally covered in water. The area hardest hit has been Cedar Rapids.

The Salvation Army of Iowa has made a request of the ACF Iowa Chefs, to please help them man a major feeding station for the next several weeks to a month +/-, at a facility located at the northwest edge of Cedar Rapids. This request posses an opportunity for our ACF family to pull together and help the ACF Iowa Chefs man this feeding station. Details as follows:

The Iowa Salvation Army has secured hotel rooms at a basic Ramada Inn, in a nearby town, with those costs covered by the Salvation Army
Chef teams (3-5 persons) would need to prepare approximately 1000 dinner meals a day, from a pre-planned menu with daily purchased foods. Those costs are covered by the Salvation Army
Commitment of time is solely based on what you and your Chapter are able to offer
Travel costs to and from Cedar Rapids must be incurred by individuals and/or Chapters - traveling by car would be recommended
Tetanus injections will be required and are free either on site or nearby
Chef BJ Whitmore of Ottomwa Iowa is the ACF Iowa Chapter President and will be the lead for this feeding station, as well as, the Iowa Salvation Army.
In addition to this request, several Chapter purveyors are in need of help, as well as a Chef member whose 108 year old historical home was damaged by the flood waters.

So, as you can read, there are several opportunities for Chapters to be of assistance.

Working a feeding station would be an excellent opportunity for a culinary instructor and their students to experience first hand, mass food preparation. The culinary students who worked the relief stations in Louisiana during the hurricanes, to this day speak of the incredible life experience of helping others in such need.

And also, during a conference call this afternoon with the Salvation Army, the Captain mentioned he was also looking for this to be a fun time frame, for those preparing the food, as well as, for those coming in from a long day of relief work looking for a good meal.

Please distribute this message to your Chapter Officers and members and see if you can pull together a small team for several days at a time. If you are able to put a group together, please contact me immediately, so I can pass along some additional details and also put your team on the relief station cooking schedule.

If you are unable to send a team, possibly put together a fund raiser...all monies should be donated to the ACFF Disaster Relief Fund.

Thanking each of you in advance for your much needed help!

Yours in cooking,
Lynn Krause
314-581-2901 cell
314-469-0371 home

The ACF Disaster Relief Team has contacted our chapter to see if any of our members are in need of assistance with the tornadoes and flooding events throughout the state. If you, or the relief agencies in your area, could use a team of chefs to help ease the load please contact me at president@acfiowa.org or 641-629-0225 and I will forward your request to the team.