Eva’s Village to Launch E-Commerce Cookie and Brownie Business to Provide Job Opportunities

USA - English

• USA - English

Paterson, New Jersey (PRWEB) March 23, 2015 -- A $500,000 grant has been secured from the Newman’s Own Foundation to allow Eva’s Village to launch an e-commerce cookie and brownie business which will be guided by Tom Indoe, retiring president and COO of Newman’s Own. The e-commerce business is being developed to fulfill two main objectives: 1) to provide jobs and 2) to raise money to support the programs of Eva’s Village. Tom Indoe joined the culinary school advisory board in September, and has been an advocate of Eva’s Village programs for many years. “After joining the board, I realized there was a unique opportunity to build a source of job opportunities and funding to help Eva’s Village continue its mission to help people in need,” stated Tom Indoe.    

Preliminary work in the development of the e-commerce business has already been initiated, including: consultation with organizations that are doing and/or have done similar work, investigating product options, testing product options and initiating development of the e-commerce website. The e-commerce business is expected to be up and running in September 2015 out of the new Prince Street Training Kitchen of the culinary school. “We are very excited about the expansion of our social enterprise initiatives. We began with The Culinary School at Eva’s Village in 2014, and now, we are expanding our efforts to include a business which will create jobs and provide funding for our programs. We are grateful to Newman’s Own Foundation and Tom Indoe for helping us launch this venture,” stated Marie Reger, executive director at Eva’s Village.

For application information on The Culinary School at Eva’s Village, contact: Student Services at The Culinary School – Phone: (973) 523-6220 Ext. 253 or email Culinary(dot)School(at)evasvillage(dot)org. To support Eva’s Village, visit: http://evasvillage.org/donate2.shtml.

About The Culinary School at Eva’s Village:
A private vocational school certified by the New Jersey Department of Education and Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The five-month course provides fundamental cookery skills appropriate to basic positions in professional food preparation. Four-week modules include: Introduction to Culinary Arts/Breakfast Cookery; Buffet Prep/Short Order; Garde Manger/Pantry; and Introduction to Baking and Pastry Arts. Topics cover recipe and menu genres, culinary math, knife skills, safety and sanitation, and breakfast cooking. Students will also be coached in workplace readiness and life skills throughout the modules. As students advance through the modules, they practice cooking techniques, including soup, stock, and sauce production, vegetable and starch cookery, and scratch preparation of salads and dressings. More advanced classes cover meat and seafood fabrication and cooking techniques, Garde Manger practices and baking and pastry cooking techniques and production. The final module includes a four-week industry internship with post-internship placement services.        

About Eva’s Village:
Eva’s Village (http://www.evasvillage.org), originally a New Jersey soup kitchen, was founded in 1982 by Msgr. Vincent E. Puma in response to the increasing incidence of homelessness in his Paterson, NJ parish. But Msgr. Puma soon realized that a soup kitchen was not enough. With the generous support of thousands of donors and private and government grants, Eva's has grown to be the most respected anti-poverty program in New Jersey. Their mission is to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, treat the addicted and provide medical and dental care to the poor with respect for the human dignity of each individual.

Donna Fico, Eva's Village, http://www.evasvillage.org, +1 (862) 308-3969, [email protected]