BOISE, Idaho — Interfaith Sanctuary in Boise now has a food truck.
It came from a generous donation and is being used to help feed guests at the homeless shelter, and also train those interested in the food service industry.
The money for food truck was donated by True Hope Church in Boise.
"They had some funding [and] they wanted to do something meaningful within the community, so we proposed that we buy a food truck together so Interfaith could have a kitchen," explained Jodi Peterson-Stigers, the executive director for the shelter.
The homeless shelter uses Life's Kitchen, a Boise-based nonprofit, for food throughout the week, but the food truck will add to that nutrition. Plus, it will help guests of the shelter get food training skills.
"They'll start helping us with basically preparing food, serving food, and kinda learning the inventory system," Peterson-Stigers said. "We're working to connect with restaurants in downtown Boise to get them hireable and they can get back to work."
Sasha Boseke and Scott Duin are excited to be a part of the program.
"I grew up in the restaurant business - my family owned restaurants - so I do have experience," Duin said. "I thought with that experience maybe I can be an addition to the program."
"Since I decided to join the cooking class I thought I'd be able to gain experience and use that for my future," Boseke said.
The goal is to help participants not only with future employment but with their mental health as well.
"Right now with COVID it's so hard to get access to anything," Peterson-Stigers said. "So to be able to do a training program right on-site with our safety precautions, allows them to, first of all, feel useful again because there's not a lot for our homeless to do right now.
"There's nowhere for them to go," she added. "They're feeling really unproductive. It's hard to get interviews or anything like that, and so for them, it's like having this whole new opportunity when their whole world is shut down."
The training program is called the Doug Richards Cooking School.
He left a large amount of money to True Hope Church when he died and that money was gifted to Interfaith Sanctuary shelter.
If you would like to help the program you can visit the shelter's website to find out more.
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