Why Life’s Kitchen’s Mission Matters Now More Than Ever BY APRIL NEALE
R
eagan Overgaard’s world was at a standstill until she learned about Life’s Kitchen. The Boise resident was seeking to get her GED. Then, in 2021 and by chance, a teacher told her about the local nonprofit program, Life’s Kitchen, that teaches opportunity-seeking youth ages 16 to 24 how to navigate the adult world with a marketable set of skills to help break cycles of poverty and homelessness. Overgaard was drifting, and she knew it. “I was already planning on pursuing my GED,” she tells us inside the Fairview-located gem, Rory’s Cafe, a nonprofit restaurant that turns out addictive grilled cheeses, burgers, homemade soups, and killer eggs Benedict. “I went to my career counselor at Eagle Academy. And I asked her, is there any place that could help me get my GED? I don’t know where to go. So she showed me a pamphlet for Life’s Kitchen, and then I ended up coming for a tour, and as I walked through here, I thought, ‘I want to do this.’” Upon her spring 2022 graduation, Overgaard learned skills as a baker, which led to an excellent position at Deja Brew Laugh A Latte in Meridian, thanks to her Life’s Kitchen teacher, Chef Kyle Swanbeck.
COURTESY LIFE’S KITCHEN
Reagan Overgaard is moving forward at Life’s Kitchen.
As Overgaard says, “Chef Kyle helped me get a job at Deja Brew. He referred me. I’m going to be their baker, and I think they’re going to cross-train me to help me learn all kitchen positions to further my training, but initially, I’ll be focused on baking.” Founded in 2003 by local restaurateur Rory Farrow, Life’s Kitchen has helped over 750 kids with circumstances similar to Reagan’s acquire their GEDs and learn how to become skilled workers through its four-month zero-cost internship program. At the culinary training facility, participants ages 16 to 24 immerse in a ladder-like series of life and social skills and confidence-building
sessions, where studies for GED classes coincide with knife skills, plating, food safety classes, and meal preparations. Tammy Johnson, the program’s Executive Director says, “[Life’s Kitchen founder] Rory Farrow, a restaurant owner, found that many young adults were coming to work for her without the basic work or life skills. And many of our Program trainees have dropped out of school, live at or below the poverty level, experience homelessness, or were referred to us by the juvenile justice system. Here, they can access the educational resources and learning opportunities that they need to live independently.”
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