Shawn

Shawn, who was referred to LVGH by our partners at The Open Hearth Association, earned his ServSafe Food Handler Certificate through our program in 2019 and has been working in The Open Hearth’s kitchen ever since. “Cooking for people through that training program was really great,” he recalls. “When I had the opportunity to take the Manager’s class through this organization, it was an easy fit for me.”

“I like working in food service because I like the people and I like to cook,” Shawn says. He cooks three meals a day for 50-100 people, 365 days a year. “It’s a unique job. It’s hard work in the kitchen, but cooking is an art. They always say, if you love what you do you never work a day in your life. And I mean, I love what I do!”

Shawn joined our pilot ServSafe Manager class in hopes to earn the certificate, but also to challenge himself to get back in a classroom setting and further his knowledge.

“Earning that Manager’s Certificate is a very big deal because someone like me who is in recovery- being able to overcome something that you thought you couldn’t do, or thought you’d lost that skill- it just shows me that I can accomplish stuff like this.” When Shawn learned that he had passed the test, “it was a culmination of six weeks of work. It was validation that I could do it.”

Now, Shawn has not only strengthened his skills in the kitchen, but also reignited a long-lost goal of his. “When I was a kid, I always said my dream job would be a teacher. I kind of thought that goal had passed me.” Now, he says he would really love to explore the possibility of becoming a trainer and teaching a ServSafe class. “It would be so cool to be able to give that opportunity to others, especially for people like me in recovery. You can see it in their faces when they achieve something, it’s a big deal no matter what it is because a lot of times, it’s been a very long time since you’ve gotten that recognition.”

We’re so glad that Shawn made his way back to LVGH to take that next step in his food service career, and we can’t wait to see what he does for himself and his community next.