'They want to be here': Delaware culinary program gets adults with disabilities cooking

Lashaunda Lynch is used to her limits being assumed.

The Seaford native grew up in rural Sussex County, itching to help in the kitchen by about 12 years old. Lynch’s mom taught her as much as she could, nursing the interest and hoping Lynch would keep finding ways to be independent. Other outlets for the interest never seemed quite in reach.

Lynch was born into a family that could hear. But she was deaf.

She got used to being alone in a room of people, the only person using American Sign Language, the only person looking toward an interpreter — the one who’s assumed to be un-able. After a while, even approaching her 30s, she believed working in food service couldn’t be for her.

One program changed her mind.

“It’s proving that ‘deaf can,’” she said, a glow in her eyes as she continued signing. “Deaf people can do these things just like any other person.”

She got back in the kitchen.

Last week, Lynch joined the first class of the Kitchen School to graduate in Milford. The Food Bank of Delaware's program — now offered at both the Glasgow and Milford branches — is a free 12-week food service training program designed specifically for adults with disabilities.

Chef and instructor Shalisa Alexander called it her most rewarding job yet.

Her students navigate life with Down syndrome, dwarfism, deafness and other degrees of ability. But Kayla Strohmeyer is her “fireball.” David Giblin is her “inspiration.” All of her graduates exceeded her expectations.

“This population is just so excited,” Alexander said. “They want to be here. They want to learn. And I find that in kitchens and jobs in general, people just take it for granted.”

Students spend eight weeks on everything from kitchen sanitation to baking, knife skills to food prep and basic cooking techniques, tucked into the Food Bank kitchen each day. The following four weeks are dedicated to job coaching. Nearly every member of the eight-person graduating class already has a job in a kitchen.

Lynch works at Grain on the Rocks, a small restaurant near the Lewes Ferry Terminal. She works in all things prep alongside fellow graduate and now-inseparable friend Victoria Rust.

“I love cooking,” Lynch said, parked for a short break from the kitchen at her classroom desk. “It's just meant so much to me because I've been doing this all my life, with my family, and now with other people I get to share that.”

She’s not alone.

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Victoria Rust’s mom made everything homemade. The Delawarean can’t remember anything coming from a box. Noodles, dumplings, cookies, everything hit the table from scratch.

She was her daughter’s inspiration, up until the moment she could no longer be in the kitchen.

“After she passed, I told myself, I'm gonna keep on going and find a program, you know, something so I can keep on going with cooking,” said the recent graduate, recalling the loss of her mom in 2012.

For a long time, nothing seemed accessible. Then, her friend stumbled across the Kitchen School online earlier this year. Rust hastily applied, got in and reported to Milford by April.

“It became reality, I want to say, our first field trip, when we went into the kitchens,” Rust said, perched on her desk chair at the back of the room. “It hit me, like, ‘Wow, it's happening.’”

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Students take several trips to partnering restaurants to see real kitchens in action. The program itself is a collaboration between the Delaware Restaurant Association and the Food Bank, as well as teachers and counselors specializing in working with students with disabilities. But more restaurants can reach out if interested in getting involved, too.

Rust recalled her first trip to Bally's Dover Casino, mesmerized by all the chopping, prepping and cacophony of communication throughout its kitchens.

Now, she gets to seize the same opportunity for community at her Lewes restaurant. She carpools with her classmate Lashaunda Lynch each shift and doesn’t plan to stop after graduation. She’s taking a sign language class from a local college, brushing up on what she already knows.

Chef Alexander knows she’s leading something much different than working as a sous chef in a busy casino restaurant or adjunct teaching at Delaware Technical Community College. She can't believe she gets to be a part of it.

“I'm just so proud of them, I'm almost speechless, you know, but I'm not,” she said. “I’d hire all of them, and I'd open a restaurant. I know we'd be successful because of the work ethic that they have. And I guess I wasn't expecting that. I didn't know what to expect.”

She knows her students need more time, patience and support than what other culinary students often encounter. Today, alongside building general life and work skills in the program, most of them are ready for jobs in the kitchen.

Lynch hopes one day that won’t feel so rare.

She hopes more people living with disabilities hear about the Food Bank’s program, realizing that working with food could be for them.

“This is a great program for training and learning how to cook if they haven't had the opportunity,” she said. “And it's accommodating their disabilities. They shouldn't feel discouraged about their different abilities. If they're motivated to learn, then they can have the confidence to do so.”

Kelly Powers covers race, culture and equity for the USA TODAY Network's Northeast Region and Delaware Online, with a focus on education. Contact her at kepowers@gannett.com or (231) 622-2191, and follow her on Twitter @kpowers01.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Delaware culinary program gets adults with disabilities in the kitchen