Dispatch - 6-01-07

The Circle of Life

Big Danny stood in the lunch line with the other recovering addicts. His tattoos danced along his muscular forearms as he picked up his tray and slid it along the stainless steel runners in front of the steam trays. Like the others, Big Danny had never planned to be an addict. He had never planned to be homeless, yet there he stood in 1996, in the cafeteria at Walden House 890*, a San Francisco not-for-profit drug and alcohol treatment center, waiting for a plate of spongy broccoli and bland meatloaf. Big Danny did not complain. Determined to get his life back on track, he worked hard around the shelter and was chosen by the staff to apply for a scholarship to the 6-Month Full Time Professional Culinary Training Program at Tante Marie Cooking School which was being offered to the appropriate Walden House client by Tante Marie owner and Food Runners founder Mary Risley.

Mary interviewed Big Danny after assessing the letter of intent she’d asked him to write. She subsequently awarded him the scholarship. To make ends meet during his training, Big Danny juggled a before school job at the Episcopal Sanctuary, an after school job at Alioto’s as well as a weekend job working as a private chef for Diamond Heights University. Big Danny busted his clean and sober butt. At the end of the six months, Mary helped Big Danny get hired at Vivande Restaurant in Opera Plaza. Under the tutelage of Chef Owner Carlo Middione, also a cookbook author and popular teacher at Tante Marie, Big Danny rose from line cook to Chef De Partie in just 13 months. From Vivande, Big Danny moved on to a position at Stars under celebrity chef Jeremiah Tower. Whenever Mary popped in to enjoy the “scene” she would check up on her former pupil to see if he still had the passion. He did. That was then... Today Big Danny is the Executive Chef for all fourteen Walden House Northern California locations. He oversees preparations for 56,000 meals per month. His duties include menu planning, budgeting, hiring, chef training and more. His salary affords him and his wife a comfortable living in San Francisco. Every Sunday, Food Runners volunteer Bill N. delivers approximately 500 pounds of excess food from Trader Joe’s on Masonic to Walden House 815. Every Sunday the Food Runners truck delivers another big load of excess food from Trader Joe’s on 9 th Street to Walden House 890. “The food that Food Runners brings is an important part of making it all work,” says Big Danny with the big smile of a changed man. “I owe everything to Mary Risley. She gave me the flower and I let it blossom.” And with Big Danny fronting the kitchen at Walden House, the broccoli isn’t spongy anymore and the meatloaf is never bland.

Food Runners picked up and delivered 117,850 pounds of food in the month of April. Volunteers performed 829 runs and the truck did 254.

Food Runners added five new volunteers, two new recipients and four new donors this past month. New donor, La Boulange on Fillmore is donating on a regular basis.

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