Carolyn’s House at your service

Local News

May 2, 2011

By Mark Scheer Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Mon May 02, 2011, 12:05 AM EDT

NIAGARA FALLS — Stacy Rainey was still busy putting food in the refrigerator when her first batch of customers approached the counter late last week.

City employee after city employee dropped by to see what her new venture had to offer.

Rainey, a resident of Carolyn’s House on Sixth Street, is now the proud supervisor of a new food service venture known as City Hall Cafe.

She’s excited about the opportunity.

“I’m elated,” said Rainey, who has lived in the YWCA’s assisted living center for homeless women and children for a little more than two years now. “My goal is to move out of Carolyn’s House and be totally self-sufficient and on my own. They felt that this was a way for me to do that.”

Rainey is a member of the Carolyn’s House Catering Crew, a social enterprise program that allows women who receive assistance through the facility to pick up some food service and business skills along the way. The Catering Crew involves Carolyn’s House residents who are involved in the center’s 16-week culinary arts program.

The City Hall Cafe, located inside the food kiosk on the lower floor of the city hall building on Main Street, offers wraps, sandwiches, salads, bagels, muffins, coffee and other goodies to city employees and visitors. It is the Catering Crew’s newest venture. The group is also responsible for the food service operation at the Niagara Falls International Airport and provides catering services for other events.

“These are three separate venues that allow them to get some experience as they are being educated in the culinary arts program,” said Carolyn’s House Director J. Suzan Ben, who joined YWCA of Niagara Chief Executive Officer Kathleen Granchelli and other YWCA officials in celebrating this week’s opening.

The lower-floor kiosk served for many years as the source for snacks inside City Hall. It closed a few months ago at the direction of its former operator, Community Missions. The city issued a request for proposals in an effort to find a new organization to resume the small food service operation. Carolyn’s House submitted the lone application, believing it would offer a good training ground for culinary students.

“The culinary art program is designed to teach a skill so that they can then go out and get viable employment,” Ben said. “This helps them to make themselves sustainable.”

Food items offered at the City Hall Cafe are prepared fresh daily by members of the Catering Crew under the guidance of Carolyn’s House chef and instructor Sean Male. The cafe will be open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and all proceeds from the operation will be used to fund programs at Carolyn’s House.

Rainey took some time recently to meet with staffers from all of the departments in the building and she said she’s confident the new venture will be a success.

“People have really been looking forward to it,” Rainey said. “They’ve been very, very welcoming. I’ve been very warmly received.”

“I expect to thrive and make this the best cafe that city hall has ever experienced,” she added.

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