Second Helpings awarded Jacques Pépin Foundation summer grant 

Second Helpings is one of the recipients of The Jacques Pépin Foundation (JPF) Summer 2025 Grant Awards. 

As one of 17 grant recipients, Second Helpings will offer a free 7-week immersive training program designed to help unemployed or underemployed adults launch a career in the food service industry. The $10,000 grant will be used to supplement “shortfalls from a pause and an uncertainty” in two different federal grants that would typically cover Second Helpings’ staff salaries, tablets, Wi-Fi, uniforms and knife kits, according to a press release. 

In addition to the grant, JPF is also gifting branded aprons and a group membership to the foundation for students in the Second Helpings program. 

“The JPF’s mission is realized in part by supporting programs that create opportunities through culinary training, and giving grants to these important, impressive, local organizations,” Rollie Wesen, executive director of the JPF, said in a statement. “Second Helpings’ Culinary Job Training in Central Indiana is a powerful example of how culinary education can create pathways to stability and purpose.” 

The Pépin family founded JPF in 2016 with the mission to “enrich lives and strengthen communities through the power of culinary education,” which the foundation believes leads to increased self-confidence, better heath, employment and career opportunities, according to a press release.  

The JPF works to empower and inspire professional chefs, home cooks and community kitchens across the country by sharing Jacques’ legacy of culinary education. The JPF became a grant-making organization in 2019, and since then, the foundation has awarded more than $1.8 million to more than 80 non-profit community-based culinary arts training programs that offer culinary and developmental skills training to adults facing barriers to employment.  

Wesen said JPF is “proud to support this impressive program,” which rescues more than 325,000 pounds of prepared and perishable food from Indianapolis-based wholesalers, retailers and restaurants each month, only to turn it into more than 5,500 daily nutritious meals. 

To date, more than 1,000 adults have graduated from Second Helpings’ program and now work as cooks, bakers, chefs and business owners, according to a press release.  

“Every day I step into the kitchen at Second Helpings to teach, I witness lives changing. Our Culinary Job Training program isn’t just about learning to work in a kitchen, it’s about building confidence, discovering potential, and preparing for a new chapter,” Kyle Burnett, chef and culinary job training manager for Second Helpings, said in a statement. “ This gift is opening doors for so many more people, and I’m so grateful to see the impact firsthand.” 

The full list of Summer 2025 Grand Awardees includes: 

• Second Helpings (Indianapolis, IN) 

• TASK (Trenton, NJ) 

• The Inspiration Kitchen at Lott Industries (Toledo, OH) 

• FeedMore WNY (Buffalo, NY) 

• Feeding South Florida (Pembroke, FL) 

• Project Renewal (New York, NY) 

• CitySeed Sanctuary Kitchen (New Haven, CT) 

• Life’s Kitchen (Boise, ID) 

• Philabundance (Philadelphia, PA) 

• Fulfill (Neptune, NJ) 

• Good Work (Austin, TX) 

• FeedNC (Mooresville, NC) 

• UMOM (Phoenix, AZ) 

• Columbia Ability Alliance (Kennewick, WA) 

• Salvation Army Golden State (San Francisco, CA) 

• Inspiration Corporation (Chicago, IL) 

• Drive Change NYC (Brooklyn, NY) 

The Jacques Pépin Foundation Grant Program for Community-Based Culinary Arts Training Programs is awarded in the summer and winter, but community-based culinary arts training programs are encouraged to apply for the program year-round.  

Applications for the winter program are open now through October 2025. For more information, visit jp.foundation/programs. For more information about Second Helpings, visit secondhelpings.org 

Contact Arts & Culture Reporter Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848. Follow her on X @chloe_mcgowanxx.