Candice and Monique Graduate Community Culinary School

Congratulations to Candice and Monique for their hard work in completing the Community Culinary School program. Their graduation comes in the nick of time as the Second Helping coffee cart gets ready to open it's coffee mugs for business.

Watch Candy Grow as She Takes on Culinary School

I would like to give all honor and glory to God for making this possible for me .If it was not for him I wouldn't be blessed with this opportunity and I wouldn't have a clue were I would be.

Currently, I am currently a client of Changed Choices and I'm also part business owner of Seconding Helping, which has given me a second chance in life and a chance to do things a little different.

I have chosen to go back to school to open up "Seconding Helping". My days in school aren't only about learning new recipes, but gives me a chance to feed the hungry. This makes my day even more awesome. So follow me as the days go on and I grow to become Chef Candy.

Second Helping is Cooking Today in Charlotte

It's 97 in Charlotte today and it's HOT HOT HOT! But that didn't keep our first two Second Helping employees, Monique and Candice, from their class at Community Culinary School.



Monique cooking up a storm

Community Culinary School is a great organization that offers free training to difficult-to-employ clients, preparing them for jobs in the culinary field. Monique and Candice are learning how to slice bread (just two strokes), to roll their knives when they chop onions and make a mean hummus. 

As part of their training, they also get to help other people. Through Community Culinary School's partnership with Friendship Trays (Charlotte's Meals on Wheels), culinary school students prepare hundreds of trays for home bound people who can't cook for themselves. Monique and Candice also tend and harvest local produce from an on-site garden. The two talented chefs-to-be will graduate in August and will transition immediately to working on Second Helping's first venture, a coffee cart in a building uptown.

Visit us at http://www.secondhelpingcharlotte.org/ to learn more.

Fundraiser for Changed Choices at Belk's Charity Day

Fundraiser for Changed Choices

Belk Charity Day- A Great Success

Changed Choices took part in Belk’s Charity Day and many wonderful volunteers helped us for free!

Belk Stores have a Charity Day twice each year (April and November). On Saturday, April 16^th they will have a special advertised sale from 6AM-10AM where everything in the all Belk stores is from 20% to 70% off storewide, including some special savings on rarely discounted brands. (See attached brochure) The only way to enter the stores during those hours is if you have a charity ticket.  These tickets are purchased from area charities, or Belk, at a cost of $5 and then can be redeemed during sale hours for $5 off your purchase.

Changed Choices is one of the charities this year and our job is to sell the tickets.  Each ticket cost $5 and we (CC) get to keep the entire $5 for each ticket we sell.  Only one $5 ticket, per person, is needed to enter the store, but one person can help CC by purchasing and redeeming more than one ticket. i.e. If a person is planning to make purchases at 5 different registers they can purchase and redeem 5 separate tickets – one at each register.  This way we (CC) get $25 and they get the $5 refunded to them at each register when they present the ticket and make their purchases.

Although we are working with the Belk at South Park, the tickets are good at any Belk store in NC, SC, VA, GA on April 16^th from 6-10am.  

CC can also participate in the money Belk collects from the sales of tickets by Belk employees (“the pot”).  We do that by our volunteer hours at the store.  We can sit at a table at an assigned South Park Belk entrance and sell advance tickets to the sale.  We get to keep 100% of the proceeds from those ticket sales.   We have only about 3 slots left ( 1-5pm on April 11, 12, 13) – please see or email Ruth Snyder if you are interested.

Finally, the day of the event we must have some volunteers at the South Park Belk from 5:45-10am.  The more volunteer hours we have, the larger our share of the “pot” of Belk ticket sales.  The “Pot” is allocated to charities based on their percentage of volunteer hours at the South Park store.  Volunteers will be assigned a location within the store where they will help customers find sizes, clean up displays, etc. and some will be at entrances selling tickets for the “pot” (all ticket sales at the store on the day of the event go into the “pot”). 

Finally, beginning March 30^th, you or anyone you sell a ticket to, can Pre-purchase sale items if you have a Belk charge card.  (If you need a charge card, let us know – we can get that set up as well and will earn $8 for that!)  Go to the store, select your merchandise take it to the cashier with your $5 Charity ticket.  They take your Belk charge card information and then set aside your merchandise in a locked storage.  On April 15^th, they will ring up the sale, using the Charity Day sales price.  You may then pick up your merchandise any day and any time after 10 AM on April 16^th.  That way, you can beat the mobs on April 16^th, get the size and color you want, and work the event without missing out on the sale.


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The History of Changed Choices- the parent organization of Second Helping

History

In his role as police chaplain in Mecklenburg County in Charlotte, N.C., Rev. Daren McGrew realized the need that women in the judicial system have for ongoing spiritual advice and support. In 1999, he asked Ruth Snyder to visit two young women whom he had met while riding with a police officer.  After months of visits, the need for this ongoing support of women who were broken, afraid, very much alone and needing hope became very clear to Ruth. 

As a chaplain intern at the Mecklenburg County Jail, Ruth found the needs specific to incarcerated women to be unique. She and others taught, mentored and encouraged many women on a spiritual and emotional level.

Many women had issues from their past that were holding them hostage to a life that they themselves did not want. Changed Choices, as it was now called, developed a more structured and consistent approach. Within a year, Changed Choices had developed a philosophy and approach which proved successful in assisting female inmates. It operated under the umbrella of Grace Covenant Church and its pastor, Rev. Daren McGrew.

Over the ensuing years, the scope of services provided by Changed Choices broadened considerably. Some of the women who were sentenced to federal and state prisons continued to desire the mentoring, encouragement and support they had received in the county jail.  That resulted in a pen pal program, an optional correspondence Bible Study, a book club, regular correspondence from Changed Choices staff and provision of some physical needs.  It became evident that the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of the “clients” needed to be addressed in a comprehensive but client-oriented manner.

The time came when the women with whom Changed Choices was working would be released and a new dimension of the organization began. The “clients” needed support and encouragement in making healthy adjustments to life on the "outside". Changed Choices' role expanded to assist in this transition period by providing the tools the women needed for success. 

With the filing of the articles of incorporation on January 21, 2005, Changed Choices moved towards a new and exciting future. Changed Choices Inc. soon became an independent and incorporated 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, directed by a strong Board of Directors.

The unique approach that allows Changed Choices to follow its clients through the judicial system from the beginning of incarceration through years of reentry has proven to be very effective.  That program, the core program of Changed Choices, became known as CARE (Comprehensive Approach to Reentry Effectiveness).  A mentoring program for the female youthful offenders at the Mecklenburg County Jail began in 2009.  COOOL (Changing Our Outlook On Life), further met the mission of Changed Choices to provide services for women in Mecklenburg County.  In 2010, a residence program (HOME: Home of Meaningful Encouragement) was established for clients returning from prison to better allow them an opportunity to adjust to their “new lives beyond prison walls”.   Parenting classes for the women at the jail were contracted to Changed Choices in 2011.  Additional staff was added while volunteers continued to do a tremendous amount of the work.

The tremendous need for employment for the clients led to a new initiative in 2011. Second Helping is a client-operated business that will create living wage jobs for our women through an innovative food service business. 

The addition of other programs and partnerships in the community has made Changed Choices a leader in dealing with female inmates and a model for other organizations.  Today, the very low recidivism rate continues to speak clearly to the effectiveness of the program.

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For more information, please visit 
Changed Choices.