Dalstrong Announces Partnership with Pine Street Inn
Donation of 75 culinary tools to Pine Street Inn’s job training program for homeless men and women in Boston.
Dalstrong has donated 60 professional chef knives and fifteen professional honing rods to Pine Street Inn for their iCater food services training program. A multi-disciplinary nonprofit, Pine Street Inn helps close to 2,000 homeless individuals in the Boston area.
For over 50 years, Pine Street Inn has provided a comprehensive range of programs and services aimed at helping rebuild lives. Founded in 1969, their ultimate goal is to end homelessness by making permanent housing a reality for all. The iCater Program was designed to provide homeless people with the job skills they need to become employed and move toward self-sufficiency.
“Pine Street and iCater are so grateful to Dalstrong for their generous donation and partnership,” said Lyndia Downie, President & Executive Director, Pine Street Inn. “Providing our trainees with these quality knives will really enhance their experience as they move forward to jobs and self-sufficiency.”
About Pine Street Inn
Executive Chef Frank Van Overbeeke teaching a class
The nonprofit began in a community center on Pine Street in Boston’s Chinatown, providing 200 homeless, alcoholic men with ‘a hot and a cot’ AKA a meal and a bed. Since then, Pine Street Inn has grown into a multi-disciplinary program in which on-site staff support individuals in moving from the streets and shelter into permanent housing, where tenants can reconnect with the community as the achieve long-term stability and success.
The nonprofit currently owns or operates 35 permanent housing locations in as well as four emergency shelters in Boston, providing 500 guests with a safe place to lay their heads at night, showers, nutritious meals, and counseling services.
Their emergency services, such as front door triage, where staff meet with those coming to Pine Street for the first time to determine if there is an alternative to shelter, aim to keep shelter time to a minimum, while their emergency shelters provide a place to stay when an alternative isn’t readily available. For those individuals who choose to stay on the streets, the Pine Street Inn Outreach teams offer clothing, food, blankets, health care referrals, and human contact. Traveling Boston’s streets every night since 1986, the teams provide support and compassion to more than 115 people sleeping on the street.
Pine Street Inn is a staple of the Boston community, as this article from The Boston Globe will attest to. Pine Street Inn is located at 444 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02118, United States.
The nonprofit’s iCater Job Training program is particularly inspiring to Dalstrong, offering workforce development opportunities for foodservice trainees while providing high-quality, affordable meal service for a variety of organizations, including other nonprofits and schools.
The Boston-based social enterprise gives men and women the opportunity to work in a high-volume commercial kitchen, receive instructions and advice from professional chefs, and get certified in food safety. Trainees help prepare more than 2,700 meals every day for shelter guests and customers.
In addition, trainees participate in the Visiting Chef series, where local professional chefs share their expertise via interactive food demonstrations, tastings, and Q&A sessions.
About Dalstrong
Dalstrong is an industry-leading professional knife, cookware, and culinary accessory company with over 450,000 customers worldwide. Dalstrong seeks to turn a stale industry on its head by providing the highest quality tools to both home cooks and professionals alike. Its mission is to create best-in-class culinary products and a community of passionate, lifelong fans.
Dalstrong CEO David Dallaire is proud to partner with Pine Street Inn.
“At Dalstrong, we believe in giving back,” says Dallaire. “We support Pine Street’s initiatives in helping homeless men and women get back on their feet. The iCater Job Training program is especially well-matched with our values. We love seeing men and women get started in the culinary sphere at every level, and we’re proud to help make that easier for those trying to improve their skills and rejoin the workforce. We believe that cooking is healing.”
Check Out These Great Stories Of Hope From Pine Street Inn
Written by Evelyn Duskey
Born in Ohio and based in Buenos Aires, Evelyn loves sharing her grandmother’s midwestern recipes with unsuspecting Argentines.
