We’re Bringing the Power of Home Cooking to School
PHILLIPS is teaming up with Brigaid to give our school food a delicious, nutritious makeover and create job opportunities for Culinary Arts students.
Brigaid chefs work with schools throughout the country to replace boring, pre-made heat-and-serve food with exciting, scratch-cooked dishes, and to encourage the next generation of chefs to do the same by working in schools.
Together, we are hiring a chef to run our newly finished commercial kitchen at PHILLIPS School ~ Annandale. It’s the first step toward creating SpringForward Feeds, a meal production company designed to help young adults with behavioral health needs overcome obstacles to employment.
Brigaid will assist with development of recipes and menus as the kitchen starts out by making lunches for the Annandale school, then adding breakfasts. The operation will expand to prepare meals for other schools and eventually become a self-sustaining employment social enterprise built around our human-centered EVERY Employee framework, which includes fair pay and benefits, a voice in business decisions and employee ownership.
Dan Guisti founded Brigaid in 2016 after stepping down as head chef at Noma in Copenhagen, which was hailed as the “best restaurant in the world.” He felt he’d gone as far as he could in the world of fine dining. He wanted to use the power of scratch cooking to transform school food because it is so important to the well-being of children, especially those in low-income families. School meals are key to reducing hunger and diet-related diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure.
He also hoped to show cooking students the difference they can make by working in institutional settings such as schools, instead of restaurants.
World-famous activist/philanthropist chef José Andrés published an interview with Guisti in his latest newsletter. They talked about the challenges and rewards of bringing homemade goodness to school meals.
“We don’t come in and say this is what you have to do,” Guisti explained. Brigaid and PHILLIPS have the same mindset when it comes to taking on challenges. We craft personalized solutions based on a relationship of trust.
“It takes time to develop trust with students,” Guisti added. “You can’t change the food overnight because the kids won’t eat it.”
Besides creating meals that meet USDA nutritional requirements and won’t bust the school budget, chefs have to figure out what students like and don’t like – and why.
Guisti’s first partnership with the public school system in New London, Connecticut taught him the importance of doing weekly tasting sessions with students to introduce them to new foods, get their reactions and make adjustments in recipes.
“There is no substitute for that casual talk. That’s how kids will feel comfortable and build trust,” he said. “That goes such a long way because the kids feel part of the success.”
The change doesn’t happen overnight, but gradually – meal by meal – kids’ tastes do change. After working with Brigaid since 2016, all the food in New London schools is made from scratch now and students are gobbling it up.
“Now that we are six years in, the first graders have never seen a chicken nugget in their schools. They have only seen roasted chicken on the bone and they love it,” said Guisti.
The Secret Ingredient Is YOU
Donations that poured in to our record-breaking 2021 Annual Campaign were essential in starting major projects like the Annandale kitchen expansion. We exceeded our $50,000 goal by 50 percent last year. Will you help us top that this year?
Please visit our Donation page and be part of our recipe for success.
PHILLIPS Programs Celebrates
Back-to-School Night
Our campuses in Virginia and Maryland hosted Back-to-School Night events in person and virtually last week. For those who could not attend, please take a few minutes to watch this message from PHILLIPS President and CEO Piper Phillips Caswell.
She shared information about:
the importance of school attendance
COVID-19 and flu vaccines
Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs
the unwavering commitment of our staff
A Legacy of Giving
We are deeply grateful for the many ways Dr. Sally A. Sibley supports innovation and growth at PHILLIPS Programs.
Sally is our former President and CEO who retired in 2011 after 40 years with PHILLIPS. But her service didn’t end there.
She is one of the founding donors of our ongoing Capital Campaign, the Fund for Tomorrow’s World. Sally and members of her family also provide Sibley Legacy Funds to pay for various resources that our regular budget does not cover.
These funds are available to all staff members to benefit our students/clients in the areas of academics, social skills, behavior, or mental health, as well as to provide training or support to staff.
Past projects have included:
Beekeeping supplies and curriculum for Growing Futures
Creating an Entrepreneurship Class at the Fairfax campus
A Music Therapy program at the Laurel campus
Behavior Department enhancements at the Annandale campus
Executive Functioning curriculum at the Fairfax campus
WatchMinder watches for the Annandale OT Department
Applications are now being submitted. We can’t wait to see the creative projects that get funding this year.
PHILLIPS Programs for Children and Families
7010 Braddock Rd | Annandale, Virginia 22003
703-941-8810 | piper.phillips@phillipsprograms.org
PHILLIPS Programs for Children and Families is a private, non-profit organization serving the complex needs of children and youth living with cognitive, emotional and/or behavioral challenges in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. Through excellence in specialized education, community programs and individualized support services, we provide our children and families every advantage to ensure they develop to achieve their greatest individual success. Their potential is our commitment.