Helping Tame the Pains of Hunger: John Chirichello was awarded the Sodexho Heroes of Everyday Life for 2006

John Chirichello, chef manager of Blanton Hall, was awarded the Sodexho Heroes of Everyday Life for 2006. The prestigious award recognizes employees who have invested their time, talent and spirit to help some of the 38 million Americans who go hungry every day.

Three weeks before the annual award ceremony, Chirichello received a phone call notifying him of the award he would be receiving. "I ran around like a little kid for a few days," he said laughing.

Chirichello attributes his passion and inspiration for fighting hunger to his deep dislike of the phrase, "'I am hungry'. I can’t stand hearing that line," remarked Chirichello. "After 25 years in the food business, I have never starved, so I don’t feel anyone else should either."

He was invited, along with the seven other recipients, to be a special guest at the 6th Annual Sodexho Foundation Dinner. At the ceremony, which took place at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, Va., the 900 people in attendance raised $600,000 to fight hunger. All of the winners were presented their awards and were given $5,000 to donate to their charity of choice. Chirichello donated his portion to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey.

"I was overwhelmed with excitement when I realized how important the award was," said Chirichello. "It’s nice to be recognized for my efforts and I am still getting emails and calls from people thanking me."

Since 2001, Chirichello has been assisting the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, which distributes more than 20 million pounds of food and grocery products to more than 1,500 charities every year. The Community Food Bank of New Jersey collaborates with organizations such as America’s Second Harvest National Food Bank, which distributes over 2 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually to more than 25 million low-income people in the U.S. and is the largest charitable hunger-relief organization in the country.

Chirichello also works with Kids Café, a nationwide food program in association with America’s Second Harvest National Food Bank, which operates over 600 café’s nationally and is the nation’s largest charitable meal service and nutrition education program for children.

Earlier this year, Chirichello and other volunteers worked 24 hours straight to produce 13,000 pounds for the Kids Café. "We set a goal for 10,000 pounds and actually met that mark before midnight," he said.

For the past five years, he has been a volunteer Community Kitchen Chef Instructor who has trained hundreds of low-income men and women to master the art of culinary skills. Chirichello also instructs them with job readiness techniques and life skills.

"A lot of people go into a job interview without even filling out the application in its entirety," said Chirichello, who assists his students with mock interviews and resume building. "They don’t realize the potential resources they can include in their application."

Chirichello has been instrumental in helping more than 20 Community Kitchen graduates in full-time employment with Sodexho at Montclair State University. He has also created advanced culinary continuing education lessons for the Community Kitchen graduates.