The President’s Report
David Chenelle, President
I hope this article finds you well. I hope all of you had a wonderful Holiday. This one was busy for the Chapter members. It is good to see that the economy is picking up again. This is witnessed by the very busy season we all had. Now this is the beginning of a new year and I hope that it is good for all of you. Before embarking on the future of the chapter, I would like to discuss what we did in December.
We hosted the Christmas buffet for Becky’s House and several other programs that the YWCA offers. This took place on December 15th. Not a good date for us Chefs as it is in the middle of our busiest season. This was the perfect opportunity for students to volunteer for membership. Remember we have a program in place that allows students to volunteer twice for a Chefs de Cuisine event and they become local chapter members. This is a great way to network with professionals. The usual place that we prep the Christmas Buffet is shared between the Holiday Inn and Sempra where I used to work at. Mike was too busy to host it this year so we had to rent a kitchen to do this. One of our Member Chefs, Ricardo Vargas, from Feast On This Catering, stepped up to the plate and offered his kitchen for a reasonable fee and we prepped the buffet there. Chef Howard Merrick brought in some Culinary Students from Job Corps and we knocked it all out. The kids were an absolute delight to work with. On the day of the banquet, we shipped it all down to the YWCA and proceeded with the festivities. It is very important to mention that without our purveyors or Associate Members we can not do this. I would like to thank St Tropez, Tarantino and Sysco. You all made it possible. Photos are enclosed. We even had a Culinary Student from Chef Lee Blackmore’s class come out and participate.
If that was not enough we did the buffet for the Stand Up For Kids Foundation that helps homeless children. Mike Ames and the Holiday Inn management came out in force for this. This is a very special foundation and it reminds all of us that there are minors out there that are in dire need. We thank all who helped us out. Sylvie Jordan of St Tropez was once again one of the purveyor members who not only showed up but brought her daughter alongside to help out as they did for the YWCA too.
Our Christmas Party had a very weak attendance. Unfortunately, the Hotel needed to ask for a guarantee of 75. Only 22 members showed up. Do the math with $25.00 a head going to the hotel times 75. It is not a pretty picture when we need to pay out that much especially after having a successful October and earning some other money for the Education Foundation; it really pains me to see all of that effort go for nothing. This drives the question as the Board of Directors has to face managing this. Do we drop having a Christmas party? It is terribly expensive and we can not afford to lose this much; more on that later in the year. I thank the Culinary Student members that volunteered their time. Stacy Dart has volunteered for so many of our events it is hard to keep track of them.
Looking forward to 2012 promises to be a year filled with some great events. Please volunteer, attend or participate. This is the only way to make everything a success. I would like to direct everybody to keep a close eye on our events and please show your support by participating. After a recent internal audit of our general meetings it has been proven that our Chapter simply cannot sustain itself by depending on General meetings alone. December was a painful reminder of this. The Officers have been aware of this for several years and is the reason why we have had to expand in other areas of creating revenue for the Chapter. We cannot go backwards, only forward if we want to keep this Chapter alive for another 50 years.
Our intent is to run a business model for the Chefs de Cuisine. Simply put, we have several burners in the fire now and for the future. We already have our food trailer. This promises us mobility in future events and opens a big door for us. The Red Cross has also taken note of this and we will use this during a level 3 disaster helping out our fellow citizens in need. We are the only chapter in the nation that has come up with this plan of action. Last year I forwarded our contractual agreement with the Red Cross to the ACF Texas Chapters so they can use that contract as template for the Red Cross in Texas and the ACF Chapters there. Whether you know it or not, National ACF has taken notice of how we operate.
I finally received the picture from the ACF when I received the Cutting Edge award. It should be here in this publication.
Realize that nobody can stand out unless they stand up to be noticed in the first place. This is what this Chapter is doing over the course of the next year is standing up to be noticed. We welcome your ideas and participation.
With that I say, Participate and be ACTIVE!!