The seven members of the Foodlink Career Fellowship Class of 2020 all left Foodlink after an extended stay this week.

Each moved on to their externships at local employers — the final stage of the year-long culinary training program. The Fellows would have normally made this transition back in April, but the pandemic’s impact on the local food industry, combined with the increased need for meals prepared in our community’s kitchen prolonged their time with us. Each added much-needed capacity to our kitchen, which went from serving less than 4,000 meals daily to nearly 6,000 meals/day during our initial COVID-19 response.

Each will experience the rigors of the local food industry for three months before graduating from the program and seeking full-time jobs. Five of the seven Fellows will work at area Wegmans stores, while Native Eatery & Bar and the Genesee Valley Club have also signed on as employer partners.

The full list of our Fellows and their externship sites is below:

Olvin Cortes – Wegmans (Mt. Read)

JoJo Schaible (Wegmans (East Ave.)

Brandi Williams (Wegmans Irondequoit)

Tyeasha Hendrix (Wegmans Perinton)

Wayne Lucas (Wegmans Chili Paul)

Javia Hart (Native)

Jimmy Stiner (GVC)