Giving Back to Community: JobTrain Brings Spirit of Mardi Gras to Children and Their Families

Happy Fat Tuesday! Although we celebrated the occasion a day early… In case you can’t tell, those masked individuals pictured include JobTrain board member Isaiah Vi; Culinary Arts student: Tra’cey Duncan and staff: Kizzy Carter, Sasha Gourevitch, Kail Lubarsky, Ana Gomez, Ilya Benjamin and C2 Vea.

We spent President’s Day, working at the Ronald McDonald House sharing smiles, making memories and serving a delicious and authentic New Orleans feast of “Kizzy’s AMAZING Crescent City Gumbo,” Sweet French Bread, potato salad, fried chicken and Southern Banana Pudding! It was a terrific teambuilding exercise.

Patients and their families absolutely LOVED the food and were sincerely grateful that JobTrain was there. However, we didn’t just provide an amazing meal – but an experience – a temporary “reality respite” that these families so desperately need. I wish that you could have seen the smiles on the kids’ faces as we placed beads around their necks and gave them masks to wear. This indelible memory will be with me always. After we served second and third portions (yes, they liked it that much), we then joined the families and patients for dinner. Connections were made with parents about our vocational training programs and there was genuine interest about the work that we do and the services we offer. JobTrain informational packets will now be part of the resources provided to families with an extended stay at RMDH.The Ronald McDonald House at Stanford is a phenomenal organization. For nearly half a century, JobTrain has thrived in Silicon Valley because of the kindness and generosity of community members. We recognize how fortunate we’ve been and it’s our privilege to serve our community as well. JobTrain is definitely looking forward to our next Meals for Munchkins event!