Meet Our 2016 CNE Program Scholarship Recipients
Giving feels good – and getting to give to people that are so incredibly deserving is a true honour.
At the Academy of Culinary Nutrition, we love giving back and paying it forward. That’s the motivation behind our annual From Scratch Cookbook where 100% of the proceeds go to worthy causes, and why we decide to award scholarships each year for the culinary nutrition expert program.
It’s always a humbling experience to receive dozens of applications from people who want to be part of our culinary nutrition expert community and use the knowledge they’ll learn to better themselves, their family’s health and often in teaching situations.
We are proud to announce the 2016 CNE Program Scholarship Recipients – we know they’ll make us proud.
Personal Empowerment Scholarship Recipients
This scholarship is for full tuition in our honorary culinary nutrition expert program for individuals who are struggling with their own serious health challenge, or are in the role of caring for someone else who is.
Meet Adriana Walsh of Farmington, Maine
How do you eat when you physically can’t feel hunger? This is something Adriana had to contend with when her entire stomach was recently removed because of cancer. Instead of letting her situation keep her down, she began to view food as healing medicine – which inspired her to discover a love of cooking, develop a reconnection with food and actually get excited about eating once again.
Why we love Adriana: Adriana exudes a positive energy and spirit, and we were impressed with her maturity and composure when faced with a serious health issue at such a young age. The rare gene that led to her cancer runs in the family – she lost her father as a teenager – and Adriana’s brother has it, too. We loved that Adriana is now committed to learning what she can to help him prevent having to go through the same struggles as she did.
Meet Michael Chartrand of Toronto, Ontario
Michael is a trained chef who suddenly found himself rebuilding his life and way of eating after a stroke. In the last few months, Michael has had to re-learn how to walk, talk and, most important to him, cook – something he has been doing with his children since they were old enough to hold a whisk. Now on the road to a full recovery (and he’s retaken the role of family chef from his wife), Michael wants to learn the why of culinary nutrition and why it’s so powerfully healing.
Why we love Michael: Re-learning how to do everything all over again is no easy task! Michael has an admirable strength and determination, and we applaud his commitment to not only regaining what he had, but also pushing forward to discover an entirely new side of food through culinary nutrition. Chefs don’t always prioritize nutrition and healing, and we know he’ll be able to blend his existing skills with culinary nutrition to create a powerhouse of healing recipes. Also, we don’t get many dudes at the Academy of Culinary Nutrition, so we appreciate the male perspective!
Meet Maekeshia Smith of Maryland, USA
Mae, as she calls herself, is an avid reader, food lover and gardener, Mae has been struggling with several chronic inflammatory conditions while helping her daughter deal with mental illness. After losing her job, and having challenges finding a new one while needing to spend so much of her time going between doctors appointments, she began realizing that there had to be a better option. There had to be a way that she could help herself and her daughter through better nutrition.
Why we love Mae: In spite of the challenges she has encountered over the last few years – both professionally and health-wise, Mae’s continued commitment to dive in and learn how to better support her health and that of her daughter is inspiring. It can be easy to give up when it seems all of the cards are stacked against you, but Mae hasn’t! The challenges have only fueled her to continue seeking out the truth and we’re happy she found us.
Share the Wisdom Recipients
This scholarship is for full tuition in our honorary culinary nutrition expert program for individuals who work for not-for-profit organizations within an educational role, teaching about health, nutrition, food and/or wellbeing.
Meet Lilah Handler from Chicago, Illinois
Organization: EverThrive Illinois
EverThrive Illinois works toward building a community with equity and social justice, fosters the development of healthy families, and provides fair access to quality health care. Lilah runs EverThrive’s Cooking Matters program, which offers high-quality, practical nutrition education to low-income families. She is interested in the CNE program to gather a deeper understanding of the therapeutic properties of the foods and expand her knowledge on how we prepare healthy meals that she can share with her clients.
Why we love Lilah: Lilah has been working with EverThrive for more than a decade in various positions. She knows the people she serves and radiates passion for helping them build confidence and make healthy choices. Since she began leading the Cooking Matters program, Lilah has impacted the lives of 3,600 people in her community! The ripple effect begins with a single stone – and we know that Lilah will create waves of change for countless families.
Meet Gloria McLanachan from Surrey, UK
Organization: COLUK
COLUK is a not-for-profit organization aiming to improve the quality of life of Colombians in the United Kingdom and promotes positive integration among the community. In her role as Nutrition and Lifestyle leader, Gloria runs hands-on workshops on key health topics that the Colombian ex-pat community wants to learn about. The organization is run entirely by volunteers.
Why we love Gloria: Moving to a new place where you don’t speak the language and the food culture isn’t what you’re used to is tough, and we love Gloria’s commitment to making that transition much easier and more comfortable. Even though she had no prior teaching experience, Gloria jumped headfirst into teaching workshops and under her guidance she’s expanded the program to include any Spanish speakers, not just those from Colombia. With the teaching skills she’ll learn in the CNE program, we are excited to support Gloria in her goal of creating online materials that will further extend COLUK’s reach.
