SEATTLE — King County data shows more than 16,000 people are homeless currently - the most that’s ever been reported in King County and Seattle.
But a creative way to get folks back on their feet is being reintroduced to Seattle's downtown area.
FareStart, a Seattle nonprofit that's been an institution since the early 1990s, is a training kitchen for the disadvantaged and those transitioning out of homelessness. The group's restaurant had been closed since 2020 and reopened June 27.
On the night of June 27, FareStart unveiled their newly-remodeled restaurant on Seventh Avenue and Virginia Street in Downtown Seattle with a "Guest Chef Night." The group's leaders said they stripped the area "down to the bones" and started fresh with new flooring, paint and a new service counter.
In mid-July, they plan to reopen their restaurant to the public.
Chef Michela Tartaglia, owner of Pasta Casalinga in Pike Place Market, was the group's first guest chef in the renovated restaurant. For donors and supporting partners, she and the students prepared dishes on Thursday, which included a local Pacific Northwest halibut. It's part of their mission to empower their students to be placed in culinary-related jobs.
"I met a gentleman here who literally came from incarceration and began training the next week at FareStart, and is now employed at a restaurant just blocks from here, and thriving," said FareStart's CEO Patrick D'Amelio.
FareStart is also designed to meet a workforce need; one that is lingering in Seattle after those early pandemic years.
"Labor is one of the main difficulties in our industry," said Tartaglia.
Washington Hospitality Association's President and CEO Anthony Anton said, "The good news is, is that most of Washington state is back up to the workforce that they had in 2019. Except for the city of Seattle, which is still 10 to 15% down for most restaurants and hotels.”
As such, the pandemic showed many people the value of building your skillset.
"During COVID-19, I lost my job," said Chelsea Holstra, a former student of the program who attended their opening night on Thursday. "Losing my job, I felt very like, kinda like, 'What am I going to do now?'"
Holstra said she had always wanted to work in a kitchen.
"I've always wanted to be in a kitchen," she said. "And that's really given me a sense of confidence that I didn't have before, to be able to find work and stay employed.”
The CEO behind FareStart said he believes the kitchen is not just a place for slicing and dicing, but rather, a place to find your self-confidence.
"Kitchens have a unique alchemy, that really give people an opportunity to test themselves to grow," said D'Amelio."
Holstra experienced that first-hand. Holstra said cooking has given her the opportunity to have choices, and right now, she’s choosing culinary school.
"I'm going into my third quarter. I have a 4.0. I got $5,000 in scholarships," she said. "I love everyday what I do."