FareStart History
In 1988, David Lee, a chef and entrepreneur, saw the need to serve Seattle’s homeless population food that was nutritious and culturally appropriate, and do so in a respectful, dignified way. To that end, Lee founded FareStart (then called Common Meals), at that time a for-profit business whose mission was to serve meals to Seattle’s homeless shelters and disadvantaged populations.
In 1992, after four years of working out of church kitchens, Lee found a kitchen at the Josephinum Hotel in downtown Seattle that was large enough to meet his growing needs. Also at this time, he began to see the opportunity to train the homeless population he was serving, thereby “teaching a man to fish and feeding him for a lifetime.” And so he officially started the FareStart job training program, transforming FareStart from a for-profit business into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Today, the FareStart program is an intensive 16-week program of on-the-job training and classroom instruction that prepares homeless and disadvantaged men and women for jobs in the food services industry. FareStart offers a highly structured environment for students to learn and practice professional work skills and attitudes that will serve them for a lifetime. We balance compassion and support with expectations for professional behavior that meet the demands of the workplace. We currently serve more than 300 individuals a year, and more than 80% of program graduates secure living-wage employment in the food service and hospitality industry.
And FareStart continues to grow in the service it provides to the community. In 2003, through a collaborative effort with YouthCare, FareStart launched the Barista Training and Education Program, which offers homeless, runaway, and street youth a supportive community and the opportunity to gain employable skills. FareStart provides comprehensive classroom and on-the-job training over the course of the 8-week program.
To accommodate all of its growth, FareStart launched an $8 million capital campaign, also in 2003. Thanks to tremendous community support, FareStart was able to purchase a building at 7th & Virginia in downtown Seattle to house its training programs, restaurant, and administrative offices. Then, in the spring of 2006, the FareStart Board of Directors announced that the campaign goal had been reached, and renovation of the building began.
On February 1st, 2007 FareStart celebrated the long-awaited grand opening of its new facility at 7th and Virginia. With this new building, FareStart has consolidated its operations under a single roof, greatly improving the service we can provide to the community. And most importantly, over the next five years, FareStart will double the number of individuals it serves annually.
Thank you to the greater Seattle community for making this project a reality, and for assisting men and women eager to transform their lives through training and job placement in the food service industry.