Story and photos by ROBERT HENDRICKS

Star-Tribune

Mari Fochtman is trying to earn a living at something she loves to do.

She has battled depression for many years. The depression reached a point where it affected her ability to keep a job. She wanted to improve her skills and confidence in the field she wished to work.

The Central Wyoming Community Kitchen Culinary Program offered her hope.

"Our goal for the school is to help as many people as we can become independent and feel fulfilled in what they are doing," said Marty Carpenter, program director for the community kitchen. "We've done a lot of hope restoration."

It was Carpenter's vision to start the kitchen and culinary program.

"For years the mission has helped people transform their lives and we help them with addictions and all kinds of dysfunctional living patterns," Carpenter said referring to the Central Wyoming Rescue Mission in Casper where she also serves as director of administration. "But what happened is, we realized they were all dressed up but had no where to go because they didn't have job skills," she added.

About two years ago Carpenter looked around at the job-training options that were available in the community and realized a community kitchen and culinary program could offer a unique job training opportunity.

"I had a real good culinary background and I had my own catering business," she said. "At a homeless shelter in California, I had taught nutrition and cooking and I really think that God just kind of brought it all together."

Carpenter had originally planned to do the cooking instruction until she received a phone call last June.

"You don't know me, I am a chef in Denver, but I am originally from Casper," the caller said.

Matt Sissman graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. After several jobs around the country climbing the ladder he was working as a professional chef at one of Denver's top restaurants. He was recently laid off from his job when he made the call to Carpenter.

"We had the same dream, the same ideas, the same picture in our head about where it could go and the potential that lies in something like this," Sissman said referring to the community kitchen and culinary program.

With Sissman on board as the chef instructor, the project was off and running.

The culinary program is taught in a classroom above Rescued Treasures thrift store and in the kitchen at the Central Wyoming Rescue Mission. Monday through Friday the students work in the kitchen preparing lunch for the mission's residents.

And what do the people who eat lunch at the mission think about the food?

"We have some people that say 'When are you coming back?'" Sissman said with a laugh.

Fochtman has also heard the buzz in the dining room at the mission. "We've gotten a lot of compliments on the food whenever we've done something different or new," she said.

"We definitely cook good food," Sissman said. "There is nothing pre-prepared that goes into it."

The Central Wyoming Community Kitchen Culinary Program has completed two classes and graduated 10 students with the third class scheduled to start in early February.

Carpenter said the culinary program looks for students with a passion for cooking. "They have to desire a better life for themselves and this is going to be the missing piece to the puzzle," she said.

The program also wants to reach out to people who may have disabilities or problems and have lost their hope of becoming successful in a career.

Fochtman was in the second class of graduates with Sarah Clapp, Terrance Culp, and Melissa Then.

Clapp said at first she wasn't sure the culinary program was something she wanted to do but after losing her job and feeling depressed she decided to enroll in the course. "I'm so glad I got into it because I've learned so much and I really feel like I have a future," Clapp said. "I don't feel like I'm lost and I can't go anywhere," she added.

Culp, who has been visually impaired for 13 years, wanted to enroll in the program because he thought it would help him obtain a better job on a kitchen staff.

"I am totally blind on the left side and I don't have peripheral vision," Culp said. "When I go apply for a job they always try to stick me in the dish tank and I've got more skills than that," he said.

"With the school here backing me up on that maybe I can get a better position in the kitchen," he added.

Then has been interested in the culinary field since she was a child. She has been working in kitchens for 15 years and never advanced beyond prep cook. She said she thought the school would help her career progress. "Doing this thing will give me an advancement and I'm a single mom and it's hard to make a living off of $6 an hour," she said.

She said the program has enriched her cooking experience. "I learned a lot from Matt," she said. "He is an awesome person and an awesome instructor."

Sissman said the program consists of 10 weeks of classroom and kitchen instruction followed by a two-week unpaid internship at a local restaurant or kitchen.

Class size is limited to seven students due to the size of the kitchen at the mission. Carpenter explained that the small class size allows for more individual instruction but ultimately limits the amount of revenue the program generates. She said the program eventually would need a bigger kitchen but she is not sure how to make that happen.

Sissman said ideally they would like to expand the class size to 15 students. "If we had the money those classes could be filled right now," he said.

Current tuition costs for the culinary program are $2,885 per student. Sissman said that tuition pays for all the instructional materials, the food materials, and the salaries of the staff.

Carpenter said they have done everything possible to keep the tuition cost down. "Our tuition is about $1,000 less than any other community kitchen in the nation," she said. Carpenter explained that there are about 70 community kitchens nationwide and each kitchen averages a staff of four full-time employees.

The kitchen has two full-time employees, Carpenter and Sissman.

Carpenter said the program has received funding and assistance from community restaurants, foundations, individuals, and grants. She said every bit of support helps.

"But the reality of it is," she said, "We have to raise $15,000 every three months. And that's tough."

Carpenter hopes the community will rally around the concept of the community kitchen and culinary program. "If we are able to train more people, we are going to save welfare money, we are going to save food stamp money, we are going to save unemployment, we are going to save

heartache in the community," she said.

"The biggest thing about this culinary course and why it was designed is to help people who have disabilities … to be able to find jobs and get the training they need to be able to hold a job down," Fochtman said.

She said competing the course helped her realize she was capable of succeeding in a culinary career. "I had a lot of doubt that I could do it…because I never worked in a formal environment before," she said."That has really helped with my confidence."

"The heart of the community kitchen is restoring people and preparing them to be independent," Carpenter said.

For more information on the Central Wyoming Community Kitchen Culinary Program call Marty Carpenter at 265-3002.