HAVE Culinary Training Society. Beyond offering support to people seeking tangible resources like training, employment and housing, they also offer the intangible like confidence, pride in work and a supportive environment. My conversation with Melissa Desousa, Operations Manager at HAVE Culinary, reveals a purpose and passion for Strathcona.
What’s the story behind HAVE Culinary Training Society?
HAVE Cafe was started by Amber Anderson and a few other people. She used to work with Cook Studios teaching at-risk youth culinary skills. When she heard that it was closing, she, being very passionate about offering those training opportunities to people at risk and with barriers, decided to start HAVE Culinary. Instead of just aiming it towards youth, she opened it to people with barriers to employment, looking to gain culinary skills, wanting to get into the industry or simply wanting to learn how to cook. These people can all access our program.
Any high points of running HAVE Culinary in Strathcona?
One is that a lot of the people that access our programs live within this neighbourhood. Some people have come into our cafe, gotten coffees, lattes or even food that the students have prepared, and that’s how they learn about our program, and they come back and enroll in the program themselves. Another high point is that being both industrial and residential, we have corporations, non-profits and community organizations that work within Strathcona come to our café, learn about our program and then it helps us build those relationships to be able to help our people find employment and housing afterwards.
Do you feel like you’re a part of the Strathcona ecosystem here?
Absolutely! We’ve been here since 2007 and so we have really deep roots in the area. We have operated out of this facility the entire time. So, we’ve been able to build those relationships and work closely with other organizations in this area like Mission Possible and Embers. We had a Peer program where we partnered with Embers, Raise the Rates, Aboriginal Front Door and more, so it’s been a great ecosystem to be a part of.
What’s the most pressing issue you face being in the Strathcona area?
Theft has been a really big problem. When I first started here, we had multiple laptops stolen including our accountant’s laptop, and boxed dinners stolen. One time, Shift Delivery had their entire trike full of probably 200 meals to be delivered, and the whole trike got stolen. We definitely do our best to accommodate and pivot, but that does seem to be the most prevalent struggle that we face being in the area. But I don’t think it’s just Strathcona, I think it’s all over the place.
What’s your vision for the future of HAVE Culinary in Strathcona?
We would love to be able to access more of the non-profit housing providers in the community. We’re partnered with Lookout Housing Society, MPA Society, and Options. We’ve had partnerships with community builders in the past as well. I know that there’s more low-income housing coming here and we would love to have the opportunity to not only provide meals for those residences, but also provide the training for the people that live there, and help them gain workplace skills, life place skills, and confidence in themselves. Cooking isn’t just a means of a career. It’s something that you can carry with you the rest of your life and we would love to be able to continue to provide that.
What do you think is the most urgent issue facing Strathcona?
Parking! It is such a struggle sometimes. Even though the rate to pay is extremely reasonable, trying to find a spot, especially during peak hours, is just hard. It would be great if we had a parking structure. I don’t know where it would go or how to get that done, but something here for the businesses and community organizations so we’re not driving around endlessly looking for street parking.
What would you like to see from the Strathcona BIA?
More meet and greets! I love being able to meet other people that are involved with the BIA and I know that there were a couple held last year, but I think having more engagement with the other members would be really beneficial for us as a community.
