On #Time2CHANGE this week, @gabelullo of Alleyoop! How does a family guy from Buffalo stop the market blitz and get his clients real results?
By doing what he does best!
Check out this great clip and go to wherever you find your podcasts and give Gabe some love! He's already after 1 day out got over 1700 views on our YouTube channel alone. He's as real as they come!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting one of @catalystkitchens members @emmastorchfood in Brooklyn NY. Emma's Torch is a non-profit workforce development program and restaurant that empowers refugees, asylees, and survivors of human trafficking to build new careers in the culinary arts. They work with students to infuse menus with a sense of time and place blending seasonal and local flavours inspired by the students from around the world. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CLASSES CULINARY TRAINING. JOB PLACEMENT ALUMNI SUPPORT Great ride into Brooklyn with my friend Chason Forehand founder of @transformationkitchenorg@hr4uinc #culinaryarts #culinaryeducation #communitykitchen #catalystkitchens
He turned his rock bottom into someone else's stepping stone.
Meet Chason Forehand, founder of Transformation Kitchen™.
One kitchen. One life. One community at a time.
Two big moments this week:
📚 Cookbook launch party TOMORROW Friday March 27th 9AM ET. Link in bio.
🍽️ Cooking Up Change fundraiser Saturday March 28th. Manhattan and virtual.
Copy link from comments. Read it. Share it. Show up for him.
#CoffeeChatChronicles #CarrieConnects #TransformationKitchen #CookingUpChange #CookbookLaunch
¡¡¡Estamos TAN emocionados de contarte sobre nuestros nuevos amigos!!! @Tu_tienda_nica es una increíble tienda de delicatessen nicaragüense en Valley Stream, Nueva York (¡muy cerca del aeropuerto JFK!) ¡Y estamos muy emocionados de colaborar con ellos! ¡Queremos dar un gran agradecimiento a Valerie Martínez por crear esta infografía para nosotros y ayudarnos a correr la voz sobre nuestro trabajo en la Gran Comunidad de Nueva York! Por favor, ven a ver nuestro “¡CAMBIO DE COCINA! ¡NYC Meets Nicaragua” Evento para apoyar nuestra Iniciativa de Cocina de Transformación!#TuTiendaNicaAndRayoDeSol #NYCmeetsNicaragua
Our Transformation Kitchen journey is best described by starting from the beginning. How did we get here? Through the power of connection, collaboration and two great guys who head up two amazing nonprofits that want to make a difference in the world. Sometimes it’s just taking that first step, having that first conversation or brainstorming session to start a MOVEMENT! Buy your tickets NOW or donate so that we can keep “COOKING UP CHANGE!”
Nuestro viaje de Transformation Kitchen se describe mejor comenzando desde el principio. ¿Cómo llegamos aquí? A través del poder de la conexión, la colaboración y dos grandes tipos que se dirigen a increíbles organizaciones sin fines de lucro que quieren marcar la diferencia en el mundo. ¡A veces es solo dar ese primer paso, tener esa primera conversación o sesión de lluvia de ideas para comenzar un MOVIMIENTO! ¡Compre sus boletos AHORA o done para que podamos seguir “COCINANDO EL CAMBIO!”
Why do we need a mobile training kitchen? Take a look at this wild ride and try not to get vertigo! This is an actual ride of what it looks like to get out to one of our communities. It is imperative that we go out to them - there is not a bus on Planet Earth that could make that trip so they couldn’t come to our Community Center for classes even if they wanted to! Please consider attending our COOKING UP CHANGE event in NYC or use the link in bio to donate!
¿Por qué necesitamos una cocina de entrenamiento móvil? ¡ Echa un vistazo a este paseo salvaje y trata de no tener vértigo! Este es un viaje real de lo que parece llegar a una de nuestras comunidades. Es imperativo que salgamos con ellos - no hay un autobús en el Planeta Tierra que pueda hacer ese viaje, ¡así que no podrían venir a nuestro Centro Comunitario para clases incluso si quisieran! ¡Por favor, considere asistir a nuestro evento COOKING UP CHANGE en Nueva York o use el enlace en la biografía para donar!
/pub/chason369025/p/why-everyday-im-celebrating-the-women
When I was five, my father finally won sole custody of my brother and me. That may not seem incredibly auspicious to you, but take in the full context of being a man in the 60's who was a senior in college, was working a PT job, trying to convince a jaded court system that two young boys didn't need their mother….that was unheard of.
The deciding factor?
My mother, after using me as a human ashtray told the courts she didn't want or need us. You can only explain away so many bumps, bruises, and broken bones. Cigarette burns, nah that's cold blooded and the courts had seen enough.
When my Stepmother took over the role of parenting, she wasn't much better. Less physical abuse, but the psychological warfare she waged over the next 12 years was brutal.
At 15, I went into the culinary world and by 16 I was taking drugs. I had terrible relationships with women. I was a user, liar, cheat, and took out my frustrations for the lack of maternal love I had received on every single woman that came into my life.
This pattern went on after I got clean.
I was still enraged by all of the betrayal & hypocrisy I had seen from women that were supposed to be a caring, loving support system.
I tanked my first marriage.
It wasn't until my wife (of 27 years this October) Jody truly helped me do the internal work, and showed me that I mattered, that I began to really start doing the work and healing.
I began dealing with my demons.
Fast forward to the present and I am surrounded by the brightest, most capable, powerhouse women in the universe that I call friends.
They outnumber the men I value and trust 5 to 1.
This happened over decades.
It wasn't intentional, but as I slowly repaired my life, I became someone that could show up for the women in my life.
That's why I celebrate people like Neela Singh, who's brilliant writing brought me to this platform.
She's my sister and I love her dearly.
Now, I'm happy to celebrate all of you ladies that show up daily for yourself and the ones you love.
It Wasn’t a Handout. It Was Hope.
/jAswlk
The hardest part of my experience wasn’t the hunger. It wasn’t the instability. It wasn’t even the addiction.
It was the loneliness. Where you feel invisible. People walk past you and you can see it in their faces. They’ve already decided who you are. They see the circumstance. They don’t see you.
There’s fear in that life. Not knowing where you’ll sleep. Not knowing who might approach you. Waking up already exhausted because your nervous system never really shuts off.
And then there’s shame. Shame is what keeps you there. It tells you this is who you are now. It convinces you that you’ve fallen too far. And when you don’t feel worthy, you stop reaching. You stop imagining something different.
I wasn’t someone standing with a cup out. When I could work, I worked. I told myself I was handling it. But I wasn’t taking care of myself. I was surviving. Cycling between wanting change and believing I didn’t deserve it.
Eventually, I just got tired.
Tired of being afraid.
Tired of being alone.
Tired of the cycle.
And then I had what I call my hand up moment.
Someone paid it forward. They didn’t shame me. They didn’t treat me like a project. They simply saw me. That moment gave me hope. It reminded me I was still human.
When you’ve lost hope, you understand how powerful that is. One small act can interrupt the spiral. It can create just enough light to take the next step.
That’s why Transformation Kitchen exists.
We don’t believe in handouts. We believe in hand ups. We believe in skill building, structure, accountability, and dignity. We believe in creating spaces where someone who feels invisible can be seen, where someone drowning in shame can start to rebuild confidence.
For $0.83 a day — $25 a month — or $300 a year, you help turn belief into opportunity.
That support fuels programs like Cooking Up Change, where vocational training, culinary education, and community come together to open doors that were once closed.
— Chason
"We need your TK program here in the United States, Chason!"
I hear this every...single...day.
AND
Every...single...day...
I reach out to leaders of organizations in the U.S. to talk about what our Transformation Kitchen (™️) does to break down cycles of poverty, homelessness and food insecurity and how it can help those they serve.
I have 20+ virtual coffees a week and 2+ in-person meetings.
44% of workers in the U.S. don't make enough to put food on the table for themselves and their families.
People need a hand up to get out, not a handout to stay down.
We are ecstatic to be opening in multiple countries this year, and expending services in our first TK, we built last year in Matagalpa with Rayo de Sol Nicaragua.
We also want to serve communities in the U.S.
We go where the doors open.
We build bridges to help people exit the cycles so that they do not need the immediate services of food, shelter, and clothing and can stand on their own and thrive.
We work WITH existing programs at organizations to ADD services that create pathways that result in holistically sound thriving humans.
We're honored to collaborate with the 125 Expert-Partners that we have in 11 countries that want to see people thrive and care about the mission of serving others.
We cater our curriculum to the community served so that it:
creates long-term recovery
forges opportunity
develops healthier lifestyles
offers living-wage employment
enforces wellbeing
gives hope
What do we ask in return?
Nothing.
We measure our success not by how many people come through the program, but what quality of life people are living in:
6 months
a year
5 years down the road.
Our mission is to impact as many lives as possible, creating permanent change.
Full stop.
If your organization has the foresight to see breaking cycles is about the long-term success, you have a kitchen, and you are interested in learning more....reach out!
"We don't just flip eggs. We flip lives."
#TKNICARAGUA
