SFCC Snapshot: Nate Clements

“I was furloughed from my job at Sassella and I wasn’t working for about a month. My head chef Gerritt Bravata suggested that I check out World Central Kitchen. Executive Chef Christian Pontiggia had been in touch with SFCC Lead Instructor and Chef Jerry Dakan about the World Central Kitchen project, and I suppose Christian suspected that I would be rather bored at that point. Everything coalesced at once. Jerry asked me to come in, asked me what my availability was, which was basically 100%, and I ended up volunteering full time. Under the direction of Sunrise Springs Chef Rocky Durham, I coordinated our distributing and packaging, dealing with the logistics of pushing 2,600 meals out the door in a day. I was kind of proud of myself for being able to roll with the punches, deal with logistical issues, and coordinate a kitchen of volunteers. In my time there, I think we did a little over 30,000 meals in about a month … Before this, my anxiety was through the roof. I was having panic attacks. I was quarantined by myself in my apartment in Santa Fe and I did not have much social interaction during the first half of quarantine. All of that went away immediately when I started volunteering. My stress headaches went away when I started moving my joints again and my psychological and physical issues went away.” ~ Nate Clements, SFCC Culinary Arts Program graduate, line-cook at Sassella

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