Formerly homeless women build career skills alongside esteemed Sacramento chefs.

A decadent multi-course meal of caprese salad, scallop mousseline with lobster, and the restaurant’s signature 72-hour sous vide short ribs is prepared by Allora chef Deneb Williams for a party of more than 200 guests. The elegance this Sacramento restaurant is known for comes across in the clean plating of fresh, colorful ingredients cuddled up together on pristine white saucers. Working alongside the chef, adorning the plates, and serving the bounty to well-dressed guests are women who not long ago struggled to find food and shelter. 

“We’re right at the intersection of those who are struggling and those who are very wealthy donors,” says Saint John’s Community Engagement Director Karen Edwards. 

These student sous chefs are part of the Saint John’s Program for Real Change, Sacramento’s largest residential program for formerly homeless mothers and their children. The facility can hold up to 200 people, and since 1985, Saint John’s has assisted more than 30,000 women and their children in building a brighter future. Through the Program for Real Change, the nonprofit provides wraparound support to women who, oftentimes, experienced domestic violence, mental health disorders, addiction, or other challenges. The organization provides counseling while supporting mothers with up to 18 months of free housing as they complete a workforce program that helps them build real career skills. “Most of our women won’t go into the service or food industry,” says Edwards. “But they learn team work, communication, taking direction, and hard work, which can apply to any job.”

These skills shine through the organization’s Guest Chef Dinner series, where women work alongside prominent Sacramento area chefs from restaurants like Allora, Hook & Ladder, and Brasserie du Monde. The white tablecloth dinners feature distinguished wineries such as Heringer Estates, Berryessa Gap, and Peltier. Taking direction from the chef and his or her team are the women, who not only run plates to tables but also assist in the meal preparation and presentation. “The women get to work alongside the chefs and learn from them,” says Edwards.

The dinner series started about 10 years ago, when Saint John’s opened its restaurant and catering business Plates Café in the Sacramento Army Depot. Up until the pandemic, the restaurant was staffed by women working through the program’s 500-hour career training course, which includes job skill building, work readiness training, and interview preparation. The restaurant has since closed but the catering component, as well as the dessert subscription service called Red Door Desserts, continues to operate. The funds raised through these programs, like the guest chef dinner series, go back into the programming, staffing, and supplies at Saint John’s.

The program has enabled disadvantaged women to not only develop professional skills, but also to re-establish ties to a community in which they may have felt like an outsider. “At the start of the dinner, the chef introduces the meal alongside the women. Then [the women] get a chance to speak and share their story,” explains Edwards. “Oftentimes, one of our dinner guests who own a business will approach the women with a job opportunity. [The women] are no longer hidden behind our gates; they’re out there working directly in their community.”

For chef Williams, who was raised by a single mother, the partnership is especially meaningful. “This event holds a special place in my heart,” he says. “We’ll be there every year until they tell us to stop.”

Williams’ wife, sommelier Elizabeth-Rose Mandalou, calls the experience of working alongside program participants inspiring. “You can see your community in this organization. You can see it with your own eyes where the money is going,” she says. “There’s a direct connection to the community and yes, they’re helping the women, but the women are truly helping themselves.”

Edwards adds that “it’s a meal with meaning. [The women] are evolving from dependency to self-sufficiency. They really love this program because they’re never demeaned by guests, there’s no feeling of being better than or negative talk. They’re respected.”

Mandalou sees this mutual respect reflected among her team, as well, the members of which she says enjoy working alongside the women at Saint John’s. “Some of them do better back of house, helping create the food. Others like being with the guests, front of house. Their personalities come out and we can see where they thrive.”

Each of the monthly dinners in the 2022 series, which take place the first Thursday of the month, has sold out. Not only do guests often return, but so do the chefs. “Many of the chefs from this year are already signing up to be a part of next year’s schedule,” shares Edwards. “They really connect with our mission.” Dates for 2023 have yet to be released, but plans are in the works.