Our new facility includes a fully equipped commercial kitchen where students build skills through real cooking experience. For 10 years we dreamed of offering fresh daily lunch. Now it's real and it truly does feel like magic.

Four days per week, students and staff sit down together for a fresh, healthy, family-style meal. We cook together, serve together, and eat together. This simple daily ritual creates stability, connection, and belonging—three things that young people need in order to learn, grow, and thrive.

Our commercial kitchen is a hands-on classroom led by Chef Blue, where students learn culinary skills, nutrition, and teamwork in a professional environment. Students participate at different levels—some assist with prep, others explore deeper training, and many work toward ServeSafe certification, an industry-recognized credential that opens real employment pathways.

For students who want to go even further, paid culinary internships and event support roles are available through De la Luz Soundstage and our Technical Arts Institute.

This program provides:

• Practical job skills

• Workforce training

• Real credentials

• Confidence, leadership, and pride

• A daily experience of being needed and capable

The True Cost of Feeding and Teaching Our Community

Running the lunch and culinary program costs about $125,000 per year.
This covers:

• Fresh ingredients

• Chef and kitchen staff

• Culinary teaching and certification

• Dishwasher + utilities

• Youth stipends

• Tools, equipment, and safety supplies

Some real numbers:

• $750/week for ingredients alone

• $870/day to run the full program (instruction + food + training)

• $8–$10 per student per day

• 144 days of meals, learning, and community

This is one of the most cost-effective, high-impact programs we offer. Lunch is nourishment. Culinary training is opportunity. Thank you for supporting our kitchen magic.