Dear FareStart Supporters,
I often have the great honor of speaking at FareStart’s Guest Chef Nights (now happening twice a month) and introducing a “mission moment” – usually a graduate who talks about their personal journey and experience at FareStart. When I look out at the crowd of diners and volunteers, all enjoying a wonderful dinner prepared by a local chef and our students, I’m always struck by the personal connections we make by being together and the real difference it makes in realizing our mission.
These stories and connections matter. Together we are creating brighter futures for people with steep barriers, and we are making a positive societal change. And while the wider impact of our work might not be as visible on a typical Guest Chef Night, we know from the way that our graduates thrive and from how our model has spread and been replicated all over the country, that FareStart’s ripple effects go on and on. And I know you share the knowledge that those ripples of positivity and humanity really do matter.
I wrote to you last summer on the occasion of reopening of the FareStart Restaurant, and since then have continued to be delighted and inspired by so many supporters who are eager to engage and help FareStart along our reopening and recovery journey. I’m excited to share with you a few quick highlights of 2024 and exciting developments ahead in 2025.
In 2024:
- The FareStart Restaurant reopened for breakfast and lunch after a remodel, and we resumed Guest Chef Nights each month with great chefs and sold-out crowds.
- Our Box Lunch and Private Events businesses continued to grow.
- We revamped our adult training program and dramatically increased enrollment.
- We started to reimagine our youth and young adult programs, and piloted a new training program at Echo Glen, a juvenile rehabilitation facility in Snoqualmie.
- We began the upward climb of growing all our businesses toward stable, sustained revenue and with it ever greater capacity for job training in our programs.
- We enrolled 269 students, up 13 percent from 2023 – and that’s just the beginning!
This year:
- We are focusing on the next but equally important phase of reopening – building up our training and business capacity to widen our impact for our students and graduates. We have big goals to enroll 403 students in our program in 2025 – bringing us close to pre-pandemic levels. As of this writing we have already enrolled 52 students and graduated 28 this year.
- Later this year, we will complete a strategic plan for the next three years to ensure that we are continuing to grow our impact year over year.
- We have launched barista training for young adults at the counter at the FareStart Restaurant and updated youth programming going forward.
There will be many more milestones and projects ahead this year for FareStart, and many opportunities for supporters to engage in person or virtually with FareStart. I hope to share many mission moments that matter with you!
Thank you for your part in spreading positive change,
Patrick D’Amelio
CEO
