Cafe Momentum

Don’t spend your time wondering why no one is doing anything… Be the person who does. 
“I just remember thinking it’s just not fair. That transferred into… why is nobody doing anything about this? Why is no one helping him? Why is no one helping any of these kids? It’s wasted opportunity. It’s wasted potential. These are incredible human beings. And then that translated into me saying, “Why are you blaming everyone else?… I became bound and determined that I was going to do something to help. My only guideline was that I wanted it to be about them.”

Get flexible. Make lists.
“When you’re running an operation that has so many moving parts and so many moving pieces, and some of those pieces are children that are in various forms of crisis, no two days ever look alike. No two hours ever look alike. On any given day, I could be in court lending support to a kid. I could be helping move furniture into their house. I could be helping them move into housing. I could be taking my kitchen team out to a farm and tasting food, talking about the flavors because it’s important to make sure that we’re all on the same page with the dishes we’re preparing and the quality of the ingredients. I could be having lunch with a donor or a potential donor, updating them on how we’re doing, or making an ask for money. I could be meeting with city council members or county commissioners talking about projects we’re working on and trying to get them to advocate support for us to accomplish those projects. I could be doing just about anything. I’ve gotten really good about making lists so I can kind of keep track of certain things cause I’m not a naturally organized person.”

Question your own assumptions and biases.
“The first thing that I realized when I met these eight young men [at the ice cream competition] was that I had stereotyped them before I ever met them. The way they walked, the way they talked, a stereotype… and I realized I was wrong because all eight of those young men looked me in the eye when they spoke to me and all eight of them called me sir. My running joke is that I’ve been cooking for 20 years now, I’ve been called a lot of names in a lot of kitchens in a lot of languages and in no language and in no kitchen was it ever sir. If I was lucky, maybe it was chef without an adjective in front of it. That’s not even to mention that these eight young men were so enthusiastic to learn something and so eager to do something that they could be proud of. And for most of them, you realize it was a first time feeling … First time in their life, 16 years old, 15 years old and the first time they could say, “I did this” and be proud.”

Remember that you’re not the expert.
“The first questions I asked myself is what was my motivation? And what was my end? Because I felt like if I couldn’t answer those questions with complete integrity, that I should never do what I wanted to do. This goes back to being about the kids. Every question that I asked myself revolved around that. How does this affect them? How does this help them? And I was not arrogant enough to think that I knew the answers to those questions. They did. I cannot know what it feels like to be of color in this country. I cannot know what it feels like to live in poverty in this country. They do, so I would ask.”