Area Personal Chef Cooks up a New Way to Support our Troops

Personal Chef Cooks up a New Way Support our Troops in Afghanistan

A few months back Jennifer Urda, a Personal Chef in White Plains and owner of The Runcible Spoon PCS, received an e-mail from the Founder and President of the US Personal Chef Association, Dave McKay, telling organization members about one of their chefs, Pat Day out of Houston, TX, who had put her business on hold in order to go to Afghanistan with Brown & Root to cook for our troops stationed there. “Basically“, says Jennifer “Pat was so deeply touched by the story of a local mother who had to leave her children with relatives when she was deployed to Afghanistan, that she wanted to do something to support our troops. I was so moved by Pat’s courage to put her life on hold for the troops and her generous spirit, that I wanted to do something that would support her efforts as well as improve the daily lives of our troops.

Jennifer, who is Vice President of the recently formed NY Metro Chapter of USPCA chefs coordinated a drive within her chapter to raise money to send spices to Pat for the troops. I thought “what a great way for a group of chefs to do something for our troops.” Jennifer solicited friends and family for donations, others talked to retailers, or other culinary professionals they know. So far, in addition to donations enabling the purchase of over 70 lbs of spices for Pat, the group received very generous donations from William-Sonoma, WholeSpice.com and the Just Because Foundation. Additionally, Jennifer also coordinated a national spice drive among USPCA chefs, asking them to bring their favorite spice to the National USPCA Conference in Atlanta at the end of July. “It’s been very rewarding for all of us to have the opportunity to do this” says Jennifer, “and the USPCA chefs, as always, were very generous. We collected an additional 100 lbs. of spices at the conference that we shipped out last week“.

The most exciting thing happened while Jennifer was at the conference, she received a call from Pat to thank her in person for everything they had received. “I had correspond with her via e-mail to see what she needs, but it was a wonderful surprise to be able to speak with her in person. We had put some aprons, t-shirts and ball caps in with the spices for fun, as it turns out, Pat told me that they are issued one pair of pants and one top for cooking. They have to provide the rest, including their own head gear, and that the entire staff had been wearing garbage bags for aprons, so everything we sent was really needed”.

Pat’s base in Kandahar, Afghanistan feeds 6000 troops, with the chefs and kitchen staff working 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week. “It’s a general opinion that military meals are not known for being especially tasty,” says Jennifer, “and the extra spices we’ve been able to send has really made a difference“. Additionally, supplies tend to come sporadically, so the donations have been able to not only make the meals taste better, but help fill in the void when shipments are delayed. “When I spoke to Pat she told me that the improved taste and quality of the food has made a huge difference in morale among the troops on their base, and that they are sharing what they receive from us with 3 other bases…what a wonderful thing to know something so simple as some spices has made such a difference to so many people.”

Jennifer, who in addition to being a personal chef, works at William-Sonoma one day a week, has decided to donate her salary from that for the rest of the year to buy and ship more spices to the Troops. “If possible I’d like to collect more donations.…while I’m thrilled with what’s been done so far, it won’t last long, and I’d love to be able to send several more shipments.

Those interested in donating can contact Jennifer via her website at www.MyHouseChef.com.