A few months ago, I had the chance to meet Molly Hancock, FareStart’s Vice President Programs, and learn more about her organization. 

As that time I was enrolled in a Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management at UW and I had chosen FareStart for an interview assignment. I was really interested in FareStart’s activity and its recognized local success. I had dinner there once and wanted to learn more about the organization itself, its goals and mission, people who work there…

FareStart is a job training and placement program for homeless and disadvantaged individuals. In the early 90’s FareStart’s founder was working to serve nutritious meals to people in need. He decided to go further and to provide the people they served a training for them to build a new life.

The mission of Farestart is to  “… provide a community that transforms lives by empowering homeless and disadvantaged men, women, and families to achieve self-sufficiency through life skills, job training and employment in the food service industry.”

They keep very clear track of where the students are in the program, what resource they need, health support, housing support… FareStart is very focused on the program retention. They also track job placement that is amazing: 87% of the graduates have a job after 30 days.

It was really interesting to meet Molly Hancock and to learn more about FareStart and all its programs. I also really appreciated that Molly showed me the kitchens with people at work. I met an amazingly nice and smart woman. What a great and inspiring person. What a great organization!

Click here to learn more about FareStart.

The restaurant on 700 Virginia st. is open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11am to 2pm.

And on Thursday evening, this is Guest Chef Night from 5:30pm to 8pm. Check it here.

They also operate a coffee place that I need to visit. It is run by the Youth Barista Program on Rainier Valley.