Summer Fun with Primed & Prepped!

Bayview Hunters Point YMCA

Bowl For Youth 2015 Fundraiser Event 

with support from the 49ers Foundation 

at Sea Bowl 

This event joined recent and former graduates along with our new students!

It was great watching everyone relax and have a good time!

 The young men had the opportunity to meet and talk with celebrity ball players like former 49ers Eason Ramson

They had a great time posing in front of Championship Trophies

 

They enjoyed competing against one another!

The students approached Greg Suhr, San Francisco Police Chief and asked for his autograph!

The young men had the opportunity to meet and talk with celebrity ball players!

P&P Summer Program Begins

Our focus is teaching the young men how to run a Food Concession stand. They learn sanitation, kitchen safety, knife skills, life skills and much more. 

Chef Berlin getting their snacks ready

We make it a point to always have fresh and tasty food!

The Bayview Y is a soda free zone. It's amazing how fast the students adapt!

Of course their is paper work to be done on the first day!

Ice Breakers are always fun to watch!!

This is my favorite part, watching them interact with one another to find that common thing!

This was such a great activity.... without identifying themselves they had to complete unfinished sentence stems. For example one student wrote: The best thing about being an adolescent, learning growing and experiencing new things

The students enjoyed reading the responses too!

 Pizza Anyone? 

They are catering lunch for our Y-Football  Camp at Silver Terrace Park for 5-14 year old participants. They are preparing handmade pizzas for 30 kids.

Chef Berlin getting the guys organized and ready to go!

The students were so excited about putting on their aprons for the first time!

They eagerly await instructions from Chef Berlin

The students work well as a team

They had  to stay focus to crank out more than 10 pizza's

They made cheese, pepperoni and sausage & pepperoni pizzas!!

This is what one of the pizza's looked liked. The best part was that they guys got to eat some too!

Pizza's are now ready for pick-up and delivery!!

 Knife Skills

P&P catered the food for the B-Ball Jam Tournament closing community event for the Bayview Beacon. It was two basketball teams that played a three-game tournament, and the winner of the tournament won a special trophy from the YMCA. After the game, all the guests were invited to eat in the conference room food prepared and served by Primed & Prepped for about 60 people. They prepared steak and chicken tacos, nachos complete with chili, cheese, lettuce and sour cream. Fresh fruit platters were also made.

Chef is giving instructions and demonstrations on how to cut fruit for the platters!

He makes sure they are all paying attention and asking lots of questions

Look how focused these guys are....so fascinating to watch them!

Chef takes out time to watch and guide each student

Great job, young man!

San Francisco Achievers College Orientation and Conversation with Jason Reynolds.

The Bayview Y had the opportunity to host the San Francisco Achievers as they oriented a new group of college bound students. Their mission  is to reduce the  achievement gap of African American young men in San Francisco high schools through support, mentoring, and college  scholarships. Primed & Prepped catered the lunch that consisted of assorted turkey and vegetable wraps, fruit and vegetable platters for 35 young men.

Gregory Collins, Executive Director of San Francisco Achievers attentively listening to one of his students read

I had the opportunity to introduce the SF Achievers to the  P&P Program  recruiting for the Fall program

P&P students catered the lunch for this event

It was a pleasure knowing that they enjoyed the food!

The highlight of the Orientation was Jason Reynolds, author of critically acclaimed When I Was the Greatest, for which he was the recipient of the Coreeta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent and Boy in the Black Suit. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com



Thanks Greg and SF Achievers! I will look forward to having some of you join P&P!

Chef Berlin is looking forward to training the next group of young men!

 Informational sessions and cooking demonstration on:

August 18, 20, 25, & 27, 2015

4:00-5:30pm

You must attend an Informational Session to Join!

Primed & Prepped Program begins September 15, 2015

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

4:00-6:30pm

For more information about Primed & Prepped  contact Kelly Armstrong at the Bayview YMCA (415) 822-7728 or email karmstrong@ymcasf.org.

Primed & Prepped Program Highlights 2015

Fire Up the Start Ups!

Y for Youth Luncheon Fundraising Event

Two of our P&P students were honored and acknowledged at our recent Y for Youth Luncheon fundraising event that supports the entire YMCA! 

Y for  Youth  honoree with Dad, also known as Coach Tino. Celestino (Tino) Ellington, Sports Director at Bayview YMCA.

Y for Youth honoree with mentor Julia Barboza, MA , Prevention Specialist with the Bayview  Hunter's Point Foundation for Community Improvement/Youth Services

Casey Neuburger from the InterContinental was their to lend his support!

It was a well attended event!

This photo appeared in the SF Gate newspaper. Chef Berlin gave a heart felt speech about the program and the students as I proudly looked on! 

Encouragement YMCA of San Francisco

click to see incredible video!

 This video was made to highlight and acknowledge these inaugural students of Primed & Prepped two are interns at the Fairmont Hotel. The P&P student in the middle  was also part of this but couldn't attend the filming. He was preparing for the Iron Chef Competition  for CCSF's Culinary Arts program where he is a student. 

Thanks Lauren Bruce, Campaign Director with YMCA and Swirl Media Company for doing such a fantastic job on the video! 

P&P Parent Night!

Before heading off to prepare dinner for their loved ones, Takija  Gardner, Bayview Y Executive Director and Tyra Fennell, Bayview Y Board-member,  wanted the young men to see the Y for Youth video 

LaVaughn Kellum-King, Vice Chair, Southeast Facilities Commission and supporter of the P&P program, Taking a moment to take a photo with Chef Berlin  and students!

The students were excited about having their loved ones at the Y. More importantly, eating food that they prepared!

This Grandmother was extremely pleased to be their to support her grandson along with several other family members!

Chef Berlin favorite moments are when he can chat and chew with the students to find out how things are going in their lives!

After dinner this family had nothing but praise to the program and for their son!

Elston Mallory, San Francisco's Boys and Girls Home joined me  in on this family photo. All the families
were thrilled with the door prizes that included gift cards during this event!

P&P Going InterContinental 

The students had an opportunity to visit the InterContinental Hotel to hear employees from several departments like Engineering,  Marketing, Housekeeping and Catering tell their amazing stories how they got where they are and their plans for the future. A true Career Awareness moment!

Casey Neuburger, Human Resource Director, InterContinental enjoys hosting P&P students. He shared his career path in a very inspiring manner and encouraged the students to ask as many questions as they could think of.  Nothing was off limits!

The students were really engaged in the conversations and had plenty questions to ask!

After the career talks, they took a tour of the hotel. Casey is a thorough guide and keeps infusing the importance of customer service.

Casey, loves showing them the kitchen. Chef Berlin chimes in giving more explanation as they look at professional equipment and appliances.

Of course, getting them away from the gym wasn't easy. They were like kids in a candy store!

Until we met again! P&P gave a big thank you to all the InterContinental employees that came and spoke to them. That's Donna Ouderkirk, Assistant Human Resource Director, standing next to Chef.

 Don't Stop Til You Get Enough....InterContinental Again!

Who has back to back field trips to the same place? P&P! That's right after our Career Awareness Seminar we were invited back the next day to the InterContinental's Iron Chef Competition. This is where 5 InterContinental Hotels from different states, have 5 of their Student Chefs compete against one another and  the audience are the judges. You sample what each Chef prepared, score it on the score card that is tallied at the end of the event and the winner is announced. The winning student receives $5000.00 and the Iron Chef Title.

P&P students are the only young people invited to this event. This allows them the opportunity to mingle and network

Peter Koehler, InterContinental Hotel General Manager, introducing Primed & Prepped to the invited guest. Peter is a big fan and supporter of Primed & Prepped!!  

President Obama's Suite !

We took a break from the Iron Chef Competition for a brief moment to see the suite our President stays in when he comes to town. Normally this room is not shown but P&P students insisted on seeing it. Casey wanted them to have this special experience so he gave them a tour of the room that President Obama stays while at the hotel. Seeing the expressions on their faces and hearing the comments where priceless. Glad I was there to witness it all!

This space was so beautiful to see!  However, the lighting in the room made it difficult to get great shots.  

A room with a view...these are the types of experiences I like having for my students!

Back to the Iron Chef Competition!!

There are other foods and pastries to enjoy that are not part of the competition. YUM!

This student was the winner of P&P's Iron Chef Competition 2014. He wants to be a Chef so this event
was very meaningful to him plus he likes to EAT!

Another P&P student comfortably networking and having a great time!

Another aspiring Chef that enjoyed the voting process!

It was also a great time for the students to hang out and relax with one another other

Every once in a while they would all meet up together to laugh and talk about the food they were sampling

At the end of the evening the students were gifted with the ever so popular "Selfie Stick"

Thank You InterContinental Hotel!!

Our P&P Student....Guest Speaker At Fairmont Hotel!

Our P&P student was asked to speak on a panel to talk about his experience as an Intern Chef at the Fairmont Hotel.  It was at the Hotel Industry Showcase sponsored by UNITE HERE !Local 2  Hotel Council of San Francisco and San Francisco Office of Economic and WorkForce Development The Showcase was specifically for Program Directors, Job Placement Counselors and Community Partners to learn more about the S.F. Hotel Industry

Casey Neuburger, InterContinental Human Resource Director, introduces the guest speakers: Jared Lamb, InterContinental Hotel Group, Bill Truong, The Westin Hotel, Rickey Smith, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts and Jaime Arevalo, Hyatt Hotels.

It was delightful watching and listening to him at his first public speaking appearance. He did a great job!

Thomas Myers,Office of Economic and Workforce Development introduces the Human Resource Directors from all the Hotels that participated: InterContinental Hotel Group, The Marriott Marquis , Starwood Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, The Fairmont San Francisco, Hilton San Francisco Union Square

Primed and Prepped would like to send a shout out to Kevin Carroll and the Hotel Council of San Francisco, Mike Casey, UNITE HERE!LOCAL 2, Rashaida Nirobe, Hospitality Initiative Pilot Project, Peter Koehler and Casey Neuburger, InterContintental Hotel for making Primed & Prepped a genuine partner!

Black History Month

Primed & Prepped help clean and season over 100 pounds of fish and chicken for the Bayview Hunters Point Multipurpose  Senior Service's 35 Annual Fundraising Event, Black Cuisine. This is one of our volunteer give-back to the community.

Black Cuisine is a great experience for Foodies and Families!

Celebrate our Culture 

The Bayview Y's African American Holistic Wellness Program and Primed & Prepped team up  for Black History Month. Every Tuesday during the month of  February guest would watch a short film about African American History and open it up for discussion and dialog over dinner. Primed & Prepped prepared  celebratory ethnic cuisine each evening.

Chef does a demonstration then have the students replicate what they've seen

Fresh produce is a must in the P&P kitchen and Greenleaf Produce makes it happen!

P&P are getting ready to serve their guest!

While P&P are getting ready to serve,the guest are finishing up their movie discussion!

Our guest waiting patiently for some good eats!!

City College of San Francisco-Culinary Excellence!

P&P had the opportunity to tour the kitchen facilities at City College of San Francisco Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Program. Our tour guide and host was Ron Ng, Culinary Arts Chef Instructor. We are proud to say that we have a P&P student in the Culinary Program at City College!

Chef Ng takes a moment to chat with the students before the tour begins

The students were so excited about being on this campus and they listen closely as Chef Ng spoke!

There were lots of intelligent questions being asked

It was fantastic that they were able to see some CCSF Culinary students at work

Eating in the cafeteria where the CCSF Culinary students prepared and served the food was the  highlight  of the evening!

A big THANK YOU! to Chef Ng and Tannis Reinhert, Hospitality Management/Culinary Arts Department Chair, for their support with the P&P Program

Zynga

P&P had an incredible time touring the kitchen facilities of Zynga and having  dinner at the end of the tour. Bairam Jacobsohn, Kitchen Supervisor at Zynga and P&P Kitchen Volunteer loves giving the tour with the students.

This was a delightful tour! It was so much fun watching the young men have such a great time!

Y's Donor Appreciation Dinner

Chef Berlin put the student to work with event planning. They had the opportunity to help set up the formal dining table for the Y’s Appreciation Dinner. They also  plated and decorated with fresh fruit the cheesecake dessert provided by Faz Restaurants  

Chef Berlin giving instructions about the room set-up

Students getting more instructions on setting the tables from an employee with James Stanfield Catering

 Plating and decorating the cheesecake. Chef Berlin had them pumping them out!

Man Kim hanging out in the kitchen with the young men before the ceremony begins

See for yourself, P&P did such a great job plating and decorating the desserts!

Cheesecake anyone!

Chuck Collins, President and CEO of YMCA, conducting opening remarks for ceremony!

Malia Cohen, District 10 Supervisor  congratulates are the recipients!

I was pleased to honor Man J. Kim for all that he does for P&P along with Takija Gardner, Executive Director, Bayview YMCA. Man Kim not only supports the program financially, but he also takes out time to visit with the students and conduct motivational workshops and he also has them as Interns at his different locations. Loris Diners, Sears Fine Food and the Golden Gate Bar and Grill.

Man Kim with other Y Donor's! It was an incredible evening!

Man Kim sat at the table with P&P and gave each student his signature $2 bill!

College Success Night

P&P prepared and served food to over 68 high school students that came to College Success Night sponsored by the Y's Care Program and Family Resource Centers. They also were participants seeking out information on how to enroll to college and apply for financial aid.

The students really understand the concept of teamwork!

These two videos are short and brief. There meant to give you an idea of  the type of dialogue that goes on when they are in training plus you get a peak at the fresh fruits and vegetable we use!

  

The program attendees line up to be served!

P&P students were ready to feed the hungry crowd working in shifts as servers. The menu consisted of vegetable and meat lasagna, three types of chicken wings, fresh vegetables, sourdough bread, and fruit platters for desserts along with fruit infused waters!  

Many of the guest loved the food so much they came back for more. 

It was a well attend event with over 68 youth in attendance and ??? colleges and 

Chef Berlin posing with one of our Advanced students that is also a P&P Kitchen leader and student in CCSF Culinary Program

  Catering the Bayview YMCA's Board Members Meeting

Chef prepping the students for the nights dinner for the Y's Board Members

The Advanced students knew exactly what to do where the new students had to wait for more instructions

Chef Berlin  adding the final touches of cream sauce to the chicken

Doesn't this place look delightful?

They were great remembering which side to serve on and which side to retrieve the finished plates. Great job P&P!

Summer Program begins Tuesday, June 9- Thursday, July 30, 2015 T-W-TH 10-12N 

For more information about Primed & Prepped  contact Kelly Armstrong at the Bayview YMCA (415) 822-7728 or email karmstrong@ymcasf.org.