MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Every Tuesday, as part of our Greater Memphis on a mission series, we highlight organizations making Memphis better. This week, we caught up with a group that believes in mentorship, education, and employment. 

Kasey Hopkins has always been drawn to cooking, but couldn’t afford culinary school or classes, so she worked in fast food kitchens, but her creativity kept stirring.

“To me, my purpose is cooking. That’s been my purpose ever since I was little. I just didn’t have the right guidance or the right people to help me with that purpose,” said Hopkins. “I would go find a recipe on the internet or go watch cooking shows. I was in the kitchen every day. I had a job, but after I got off, I was in the kitchen.”

Hopkins was introduced to the Sow Project, a free culinary job training program for unemployed and underemployed individuals. They’re located inside the Girls Inc. Frayser campus.

“We want to give people the necessary skills to join the workforce. The culinary workforce,” said Dave Krog, Culinary Director of Sow Project.

As a former restaurant owner, Krog knows how hard it can be to find and retain cooks.

“We are not only filling a need with the students to get employed, to learn a new skill, to have a marketable career, but we are also filling the shortage need in Memphis,” he said.

Once accepted into the program, each student receives a knife roll with three knives, course books, a chef’s coat, and an apron.

“Just having those things, it makes you feel much more professional,” said Executive Chef Instructor Brad Campbell.

In addition to learning food safety, different cooking techniques, and knife skills, Campbell wants each student to learn about why something is being done, not just how.

“I can show you how to braise a short rib, but it’s much better if you understand why we’re braising short ribs. Why something that has a lot of tough connective tissue needs to be cooked for a long, low, and slow time, and in a nice moist environment, so that it breaks down and gets tender. And then you have this flavorful sauce that you can do something with after,” said Campbell.

Being mentored by some of the best chefs in Memphis has been the guidance Chef Hopkins was looking for.

“I feel like they saw the purpose I didn’t see in myself. And I love that about them,” he said.

That is why Brown Missionary Baptist Church and the Mid-South Genesis CDC donated $1,000 to the Sow Project. Because when you make the culinary arts accessible to all, you nourish the soul of the community.