Serving Up Smiles at Sister Robert Joseph Bailey ES

Chefs for Kids was back in action on February 2, 2023, serving up breakfast to our friends at Sister Robert Joseph Bailey Elementary School. This is the second of three back to back weeks of breakfasts, and the support from our volunteers remains strong as ever. Thank you!

We were especially excited to introduce our new friends at Rotary Club of Las Vegas to our program. Recently, the club gave Chefs for Kids a $6,200 grant to support our Nutrition Education initiative. To see the program in action, several of their members were on-hand to help serve up some smiles. We’re extremely grateful and proud to welcome Rotary members to our village of supporters. Thank you!

All around the room, all we could see were smiles on the kids’ faces as they chowed down on breakfast sandwiches, tater tots, grapes, milk, plus smoothies prepared by Executive Chef Mark Sandoval from UNLV and his students. 

Chef Mark was recently elected as Vice President of our board of directors, and this is his second time preparing this breakfast in the last two months. You may not realize, but a lot of effort goes into making these breakfasts happen, and it extends beyond the kitchen and the cafeteria. We have a committed group of volunteers who drive our CHEFmobile🚚 from the location where the food is cooked to the school. In December, just as the food was done and the CHEFmobile was leaving to pick it up, we discovered the truck would not start. With no alternative food-safe way of transporting the food, the breakfast ultimately had to be canceled at the last minute – a result nobody wants to see. 

Thankfully, we were able to get the truck repaired, and Chef Mark agreed to reschedule the breakfast and cook up some yum once again so our friends at Sister Robert Joseph Bailey would not miss out on a healthy breakfast this year. Mark, you are amazing and we appreciate your commitment to serving Southern Nevada’s children.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast. One child said “I didn’t get to eat breakfast today, so I’m very excited for this.” Another third grade student said this was their first time trying a grape – but it tasted yum! Sadly, this is a comment we hear all too often. Some parents can’t afford food for the home. Some parents don’t like certain foods and therefore never introduce their kids to them. And some kids are just picky and won’t try new foods at home. It takes putting them in a new environment with their teachers and friends/peers to get them excited about trying something new. 

Either way, it reminds us of why we do this important work. To our volunteers – we have one week left in this marathon of breakfasts. Keep your energy up and we’ll see you next week! To our other supporters – if you wish to help us continue on our mission to alleviate malnutrition and hunger in children through education and awareness, consider making a donation towards our Cookin’ Up Breakfast Program. These funds are used not only to feed the students directly, but for less glamorous, but just as important, items such as necessary CHEFmobile🚚 repairs and maintenance. Click here to donate today!