Levittown Culinary Students Serve Meals for Sandy Victims

Story and photos by Elizabeth Sobel.

The culinary students at Levittown’s Gerald R. Claps Career and Technical Center tightened their aprons and donned their chef’s caps in order to prepare hot, freshly-cooked meals for the residents of the American Red Cross Center. 

Approximately 130 Nassau County residents were given shelter in the Levittown Memorial Education Center, which houses the career and technical program, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

During the course of the day on Friday, Nov. 9, the student-chefs prepared 380 rolls, 20 pounds of dough for cookies and pies, 60 pounds of chicken, 40 pounds of mixed vegetables and 36 pounds of rice, which were added to offerings of pot roast, salad and baked ziti. The students are planning to continue extending this offering while the residents are still living in the shelter.

Culinary instructor Lillian Creedon explained that this activity was an exercise in community service, a keystone principle in the district’s character education program.

“We teach students the importance of community service, and this activity allowed the students to make a difference firsthand in the shelter residents’ lives. We don’t know minute to minute when we may find ourselves in the same situation.”

After they had finished cooking, the students warmed the meals to be taken down the hall by American Red Cross personnel. Shelter manager Tom Mahaffie, a Red Cross worker from Indiana, said he was impressed with the district’s hospitality.

 “Eating ready-made meals after a while is tough,” Mr. Mahaffie remarked. “I don’t believe we have had such an outpouring of help from a community before. The meals have been both delicious and heart-warming.”