St. Michaels Community Center names Culinary & Hospitality Advisory Team

St. Michaels Community Center names Culinary & Hospitality Advisory Team

 The St. Michaels Community Center's current renovations are about more than just a building because the new Community Center will be home to new programs, including culinary and hospitality workforce training.

 A new Culinary & Hospitality Advisory Team is helping the St. Michaels Community Center plan and execute these new workforce training programs, with advisory members including Chesapeake College Workforce Programs Dean Jason Mullen, Maryland 2022 Chef of the Year and The Inn at Perry Cabin Executive Chef Gregory James, Ava's Pizzeria & Theo's Steakhouse Executive Chef Derek Dilley, Gina's Café Owner and Executive Chef Gina Werner, Perdue Farms Culinary Team Corporate Executive Chef Chris Moyer, CEC, CRC, and Hambleton House Events & Catering Owners Executive Chef Jordan Lloyd and Alice Lloyd.

 “The St. Michaels Community Center has a three-point mission that includes connecting people to resources,” says SMCC Executive Director Patrick Rofe. “And now we have connected an incredibly talented group of culinary professionals to help build our future programs. We are extremely grateful for the insights and guidance from these advisory team members."

 

The Community Center’s renovated building will be an adaptive redesign of its current structure, meaning some parts of the World War II-era building will remain. The project team includes general contractor Harper & Sons, Inc. and engineering by Lane Engineers, both of Easton, Md. The project’s architect is McInturff Architects of Bethesda and Neavitt, Md.

 The new building will include a modern, well-equipped commercial kitchen, where SMCC will train people for jobs in restaurants and hotels, and from which the Center can continue to serve and deliver prepared meals and tens of thousands of bags of groceries to those in need.

 The new Community Center also will include a Technology Center where students can do their homework and space for after-school programs and community gatherings. SMCC is working with Chesapeake College and other partners to provide high-level instruction right in the middle of town.

 Architectural renderings of the new building and more about SMCC’s planned capital improvements, including updates and information about how to support the campaign are at www.stmichaelscc.org/future.

 The St. Michaels Community Center’s mission is to serve, empower, and connect the community, with year-round essential human services programs and activities for children, families, and adults. Tax-deductible donations to SMCC and proceeds from its Treasure Cove Thrift Shop on Railroad Ave. in St. Michaels help the nonprofit provide year-round programs, services, and community events for people in St. Michaels and the Bay Hundred’s communities, with more at www.stmichaelscc.org. 

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 PHOTOS/CUTLINES:

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SMCC Culinary & Hospitality Advisory Team Member Chef Jordan Lloyd of Hambleton House Events & Catering, left, with SMCC Executive Director Patrick Rofe, right, in SMCC's temporary kitchen space during renovations. SMCC is renovating its Railroad Ave. building, which will include a modern, well-equipped commercial kitchen for a new culinary and hospitality workforce training program, with a Culinary & Hospitality Advisory Team helping to guide the program’s success. More is at www.stmichaelscc.org/future.

 

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From left: The Inn at Perry Cabin Chef Skylar Pasaante, Executive Chef Gregory James, and Food and Beverage Director Katt Bradley bring and serve salad for a recent holiday meal at the St. Michaels Community Center, serving more than 150 people. James is a member of SMCC’s Culinary Advisory Team and is helping the St. Michaels Community Center plan and execute new culinary and hospitality workforce training programs. More is at www.stmichaelscc.org/future.

 

St. Michaels Community Center launches capital campaign

Renovation will allow Center to double number of people served

 

The St. Michaels Community Center is kicking off the first capital campaign in its 32-year history to renew, rebuild, and revitalize its aged building in the Town’s Historic District.

 

The St. Michaels Community Center purchased its Railroad Avenue headquarters in 2015. The structure was constructed before World War II as a lumber storage warehouse. It’s had only minimal changes and upgrades since then. The nonprofit has made do with its crudely constructed interior, no windows, no heat or air conditioning in most of the building, and without handicapped accessibility, among other issues.  

“Our building’s primary asset is its location in the commercial district near the people we serve,” said St. Michaels Community Center Executive Director Patrick Rofe. “This long-awaited adaptive renovation will make the St. Michaels Community Center the only fully-equipped resource center for social services on the Bay Hundred peninsula.”

 

The planned renovations will include a fully equipped modern commercial kitchen to expand food distribution and meal service to those in need, and training for jobs in restaurants and hotels. Bright, well-equipped classrooms and a multipurpose room for community gatherings are included in the plans, with the Community Center anticipating double the number of people making use of the Center compared to today’s participation levels, once the new building is fully operational.

 

“This will give us a place to do our best work and have the greatest impact on the lives of the children and adults we serve,” said SMCC Advisory Board President Langley Shook.

 

Shook says more than half of the necessary funding already has been raised, including $1.225 million from the State of Maryland.

 

“The State’s support is a great vote of confidence for our first-ever capital campaign and an investment in securing a sustainable future for the Community Center’s essential work,” said Shook. “We serve at the heart of this community, and these improvements will give us a much better platform from which to serve our community.”

 

“This funding will help us to have the improved facilities needed to support our food distribution program and a new culinary arts workforce training program, for example,” said Rofe. “This will benefit our participants and local restaurants in need of well-trained employees.

 

“We’d like to start a Farm-to-Table program that will explore every topic related to nutrition and health, and for growing vegetables and fruits in our 40 community garden plots.”

 

Rofe says the Town’s Historic District Commission praised and unanimously approved the design of the renovated building, and an application for a building permit has been submitted to the Town.

The nonprofit is now inviting the public to participate in fundraising for the new building, with naming opportunities and more in the works before an anticipated 2022 groundbreaking.

 

“SMCC’s priority commitment is to the needs of the region’s population who lack the resources to lift themselves from poverty,” said Shook. “We will continue our long-time commitment to the food insecure and will add to that workforce development programming to enable adults’ transition to self-sufficiency.”

 

Architectural renderings of the new building and more about SMCC’s capital improvements, including information about how to support the campaign, can be found at www.stmichaelscc.org/future.  

 

The St. Michaels Community Center’s mission is to serve, empower, and connect the community, with year-round programs and activities for children, families, and adults. Donations to SMCC and proceeds from its Treasure Cove Thrift Shop on Railroad Ave. in St. Michaels help the nonprofit provide year-round programs, services, and community events for residents of St. Michaels and the Bay Hundred area.