YouthWorks commemorated Martin Luther King Day, January 21, with a day of service honoring 200 Santa Fe first responders.

Under the direction of Chef Carmen Rodriguez and Sous Chef Jackie Gibbs, a team of Youthworks students baked 80 loaves of banana bread and 45 dozen chocolate chip cookies to deliver to nearly 250 police officers and firefighters on Monday at fourteen sites around the city.

According to YouthWorks Founder and Executive Director Melynn Schuyler, “YouthWorks creates opportunities for youth to learn, grow, and give back to the community.

“Giving back invests our young people with a sense of personal pride, and shows them that no matter how old they are or what background they come from, they have so much they can offer our community.”

Del Norte Credit Union employees presented YouthWorks with a check for $8,500 to support the organization’s drive to qualify for $15,000 in matching funds from a local Santa Fe couple.

DNCU’s President/CEO Chuck Valenti said. “DNCU’s mission of improving lives, begins with improving the lives of our youth so that we can achieve a brighter future together.”

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Rio Grande School has selected YouthWorks to cater family-style hot lunches for their students for the 2018-2019 school year.

Families will sign up for meal service in advance online, and YouthWorks Catering will deliver and serve the lunches.

Prepared under the direction of Chef Carmen Rodriguez, the menu will change weekly, featuring such dishes as Hawaiian Pizza, Chicken Stir Fry, Lasagna Bolognese, and Beef Chimichanga.

Members of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) feasted on hors d’oeuvres prepared by YouthWorks Catering for the AIA summer party on July 13 at the Nedra Matteucci Galleries.

Need catering for your own event?

For an estimate, complete the form here, and Penny Rodriguez will be in touch.

For more information about menus, pricing, and scheduling, email Penny at culinary@santafeyouthworks.org or call her at 505-989-1855.

YouthWorks Catering was tapped to cater the half-day session at the Community Convention Center today during which Mayor Alan Webber’s transition working groups reported their findings.

Through the late morning and early afternoon, participants feasted on barbecued pork buns, roasted mushroom sandwiches, and chocolate chip cookies prepared by the YouthWorks crew.

Following the event, Mayor Webber joined the YouthWorks team—along with Chef Carmen Rodriguez (right) and Youthworks Executive Director Melynn Schuyler (left)—for a photo to commemorate the event.

Long-time YouthWorks supporter Representative Ben Ray Luján visits YouthWorks at the first national gathering of the Nation of Makers Conference (NOMCON).

YouthWorks Catering, led by Chef Carmen and Penny Rodriguez, fed nearly 400 participants breakfast, lunch, and dinner over the two-day event at the Santa Fe Convention Center.

It took “all hands on deck” to manage the catering for two days of meals for such a large group. Here the catering crew listens to last-minute instructions from Chef Carmen.

NOMCON is a focal point for a movement empowered by increasingly affordable digital tools like 3-D printers, laser cutters and computer-controlled cutting machines that make cheap prototyping and manufacturing accessible.

YouthWorks volunteered to help feed the crews working the Ute Park fire in Northern New Mexico.

The YouthWorks catering team made and delivered sixty-six dozen—that’s nearly eight hundred—chocolate-chip cookies as their contribution to help feed the crew members as well as local residents who had to be evacuated.

In thanks, YouthWorks received this note: