CENTENNIAL, Colo. — A chef in Colorado has made it his mission to help bring the homeless and the hungry a Thanksgiving dinner. This year, he has help from culinary students at Cherry Creek Innovation Campus.
At the campus Tuesday, Brooklyn Rush and her classmates were cooking up holiday meals.
"It is a lot of food we're cooking," she said.
"When I first came, there was a whole bunch of chicken and they wanted us to shred and debone. And as the day kept going on, they were pulling turkeys out. So that's what a whole bunch of people are working on now," Rush said.
Christina Runyan, hospitality instructor at CCIC, said their 200 culinary students were prepping ingredients and preparing protein.
"This is definitely the most protein production that the students have ever done or the biggest scale they've ever seen," Runyan said. "And I think it's really important for them to see what goes into all of this in addition to giving back to the community. So 6,000 pounds of protein is what we're preparing today."
The meals being made here are for Madsgiving.
"I just want to feed people," said Chef Tajahi Cooke, owner of Ms. Betty's Cooking and Madsgiving founder.
Cooke said he cooked up the concept of Madsgiving a few years back. The project got its name because people told Cooke they were "mad" for preparing so many meals.
“Our first year when we started this, I went and contacted all the shelters I saw downtown, so the battered women shelter, the youth shelter, and I asked them, do you guys get meals on Thanksgiving Day? Does anyone feed you guys? And most of the answers were no," Cooke said.
Since then, he's been working to change that for many in the community.
"Thanksgiving! This is our sixth year," Cooke said. "We're gearing up for an opportunity to show love to our community. Last year we did 13,036 meals. And this year, we have a request of 16,700 meals."
The culinary students at CCIC are helping to cook up the 16,000 meals, which will go to people in shelters, people in need and people who are unhoused in the Denver metro area.
"We’ll be sending almost 15,000 meals to Mean Street Ministry. And they’re going to be passing out those meals all across Colorado – from Aurora to Centennial all the way across Denver," Cooke said. “They’re going to search everywhere from underneath the bypass to in between the alleyways. I’ve challenged them over the years to go out of their ways to find these individuals who need help."
Last year, CCIC's culinary kids helped with Madsgiving work. This year, they're prepping all the protein. And Wednesday night, they'll join volunteers in packing up thousands of meals.
"It's a good way to inject good into the community, you know? I think every little bit counts. So all of our little contributions as big contributions and large contributions, it really does matter," Cooke said.
The work happening in the CCIC kitchens this week is exhausting, but worth it for chefs old and new.
"I find it special," Cooke said.
"It is a lot of work. But I think it's rewarding for everyone that's doing it," Rush said.